00:00The representative from Indiana, Mr. Messmer, Messmer is recognized for five minutes.
00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:08Dr. Ralph LaBaer, in your written testimony, you said that states are ideally positioned
00:14to support districts in making locally grounded decisions that align with their unique goals.
00:20You touched on this during your testimony, but what role do you think states can play
00:24uniquely in an AI adoption where individual districts might struggle?
00:30Thank you for that question.
00:32States are, first and foremost, the ones who set the vision for where things are going
00:37within their state, and they do so through deep community engagement and understanding
00:42where their constituents are, and that is only more true in this moment around AI.
00:47I think states also play a critical data collection role.
00:50We saw this with Internet access and the differences in the kind of quality of access
00:55and the unevenness between what students had access to even within a school setting versus
01:01what they might have at home or in after school, and we need to look at that in the same way
01:05with AI.
01:07We know that students are going to have very different experiences, and we're already seeing
01:11that in early survey work where we're seeing higher socioeconomic status students who have
01:17more access to paid versions of AI.
01:21Those are important things that states should be looking into and should be collecting data
01:25about.
01:26The second area that we suggest in ILO Group's framework for state education agencies is
01:33the concept of an AI assurance lab.
01:35We think states are uniquely positioned to set up a lab that creates public transparency
01:41around what tools are being vetted by scientists and researchers from within the state, thinking
01:47about bringing task forces with other representatives on it, including having parents and caregivers
01:53a part of those labs, and not just doing the approvals on the front end, but also rigorously
01:58and often doing more research on the outputs of tools that are approved can help to give
02:05people more confidence and just understanding about all of this, and we think is an important
02:09role that states can play.
02:12Dr. Dobrin, you mentioned that about 25 states have or are developing official guidelines
02:19and policies for K-12 AI education.
02:23On the whole, do you think these states are rising to the challenge and giving the districts
02:26the information they need, or do these guidelines lack specificity and clarity?
02:33Thank you for that question.
02:35In regarding what different states' legislation, like I had mentioned in the written, there
02:39are about 45 states now that are considering AI.
02:43Most of those are not directed specifically at education.
02:46However, the trickle-down will inevitably be that that will affect education.
02:51The thing that I think that comes out clear, and I can point to yesterday's Florida Senate
02:56discussion in the Commerce Committee about AI, is that the majority of these states are
03:02focusing on further research, which is, as my panelists have – other witnesses have
03:08That's the important part at this point.
03:09We need more data before we make these decisions.
03:12So those states that are beginning to really look at what AI deployment looks like, both
03:16in workplace and in education, they're the ones who are going to – excuse me – they're
03:20the ones who are going to lead that conversation.
03:23Have there been pretty robust collaborative efforts between states that you've seen?
03:27I honestly don't know how states are talking to other states.
03:32You'll be – you'll back the rest of my time.
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