New California bill seeks to improve AI literacy in schools 

Published Nov. 7, 2024, 10:13 p.m., last updated Nov. 7, 2024, 10:13 p.m.

Professors and students are cautiously optimistic about a new bill that could improve students’ artificial intelligence (AI) literacy education.

The bill, titled Assembly Bill No. 2876 (AB 2876) and signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 29, will mandate California’s Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to begin including AI education in their curricula. 

The IQC serves as an advisory board to the State Board of Education, and develops curricula that are then used in schools across the state. AB 2876 will require the IQC to begin “incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy content into the mathematics, science, and history-social science curriculum frameworks when those frameworks are next revised after January 1, 2025.” Once these curricula are updated, they will then be used in school districts across the state starting in the 2025-26 school year.

Graduate School of Education (GSE) professor and Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence affiliate Victor Lee said “AI literacy” refers to a general understanding of how AI works, as opposed to a “specialist or technical understanding.” 

Lee added that the bill is important given ongoing, rapid developments in AI. “I’m glad to see that encouragement and push to have an everyday understanding of AI,” Lee said. “How to think about it in the context of multiple disciplines and fields is timely and relevant.”

Siddharth Bhatia ’28, a prospective CS major, agreed with Lee. The legislation is “the next logical step in updating California’s media literacy curriculum,” Bhatia said, adding that AI has the potential to reshape education and work.

But Bhatia was not without concerns. Introducing AI to children may increase its improper use in schools, he said: “When it comes to a school assignment, [students] probably will just use AI, which isn’t the best.”

Lee expressed some hesitations about how implementing the bill might place additional stress on educators.

“It’s a tough, tough time to be a teacher right now,” Lee said, adding that he hopes schools receive the proper amount of support to incorporate AI into their curricula.

Gideon Witchel ’28, another prospective CS major, shared Bhatia’s hesitations. Witchel said there is a fine line between when AI should and shouldn’t be allowed.

“AI is a tool to help you learn, and then when it becomes an end in and of itself, it’s not useful,” Witchel said. “When we use AI to help you understand a complex idea, that’s great…but when you use it to write your essay about that idea…what was the point of that?”

While Lee acknowledged the gray area of AI usage in schools, he said, he has found in his research that improper AI usage may not be a pressing concern for the implementation of AB 2876. 

Lee has been working on projects about AI literacy in education and the effects of AI on children at the GSE. Contrary to concerns, Lee and his team of researchers haven’t noticed an uptick in AI-based cheating upon introducing AI to children, he said. “I think if we start to make AI literacy a topic in schools and establish norms for what are the responsible ways to use it and most effective ways to use it, it would be a healthier direction to go in,” Lee added.

AB 2876 comes amid a national push for improved AI literacy education. On Sept. 11, the Science, Space and Technology Committee passed a bill introduced by Washington D.C. Congressman Kean Jr. to improve AI literacy in K-12 schools.

Similar to AB 2876, Kean’s bill focuses on improving AI literacy by teaching students how to use the technology responsibly. 

“I like how educators aren’t just completely ignoring AI as a thing because we know it’s going to completely shift how people work and possibly even how they write,” Bhatia said. “So I think it’s good that we aren’t just pretending it isn’t there because that won’t work.”

Sterling Davies '28 writes for News and Sports. Contact news 'at' stanforddaily.com

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