Richmond School Board considers guardrails for AI use in school

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- On Tuesday, Richmond school leaders grappled with an issue school systems across the country are trying to figure out: how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom.

The Richmond School Board's policy committee is drafting a plan that will serve as a guide for teachers, instructional staff and teachers. It's an issue where committee members say they need more time to figure out how to address AI use district-wide.

Some of these AI tools are Google Gemini and ChatGPT, which could be programmed to write papers and give answers.

"A.I. Is the way of the future, and we have to get on the train or the train will move without us," school board chair Shavonda Fernandez said during a Feb. 17 meeting of the policy committee.

The 16-page proposed AI policy outlines how Richmond Public Schools (RPS) teachers, instructional staff and students would use these tools. The proposal stresses that if teachers allow AI in assignments, students would still have to produce their own work.

Transparency is another big item within the policy. Teachers would have to share how and where AI use is acceptable. Students would have to disclose whether AI is used and how, with citations.

Teachers would be allowed to use AI tools for crafting lesson plans and instructional examples, among other uses.

Though committee members said Tuesday that they like what they've drafted so far, they would like to see some items further clarified before the proposal goes to the school board for final approval, like how AI can be implemented without taking the work of others without consent.

 "I'm open to voting in favor of it, if we don't immediately adopt — can we have another conversation about the fact that this stuff just steals people's work? We have students right now who are writers and creators. It probably will steal their work too," school board member Ali Faruk said. "So, I think we need to have a serious conversation about that first."

The committee hopes to have a final draft to the school board for a vote by April.