“Parents Have the Right” - Florida Allows AI Opt-In Choice for Students

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Pat** (0:30)
Parents in Florida, being given choice to opt their kids in or out of AI tools in classes, parents will not have the choice to opt out their kids out of using artificial intelligence, instructional tools in classrooms, setting under a new rule being considered by the Florida Department of Education, the proposed changes to this internet safety policy would set minimum requirements for schools districts to adapt regarding the use of AI for educational purposes. Tom, why is this such a big deal, and do you support it?

**Tom** (0:56)
I support it, and below the surface, there's a bunch of things. Look at what there are.

**Pat** (1:00)
Can we run a poll about how many parents would like to see this happen in their states? Do you support of the state allowing you to opt in or opt out, or do you not care? Let's just run a poll. Go ahead, Tom.

**Tom** (1:11)
Fantastic. Well, for everybody here at the table that's got kids, or like Vinny, you may have nieces or nephews, or your friends have kids, here's what parents may get. Dear parent, we're going to be using an AI tool. This is the AI tool that will be used. This is how much time that will be spent in class with it. This is the instructional use and topics for it. And we'd also like to know, do you approve of that? And would you like to limit the amount of time your child uses for any of these tools? If you opt in, you can limit the time that we use. And we're also saying that the tools will not replace, quote, the professional judgment of teachers, or quote, the primary right of parents to direct the upbringing, education of their children.
And the rules forbid tools that are subject to students' undisclosed behavior monitors, social scoring, or psychological profiling. So this is fantastic. So if you got that as a parent, Pat, hey, here's the tool. Do you want to opt in? Here's the list, opt in, opt out. And then also, here's the amount of time. And you may say, you can, you can look, they can use it to do the research on the science project, but I don't want them using it all day. Only what's necessary for the lesson. It's, I think it's great and it puts the power. And more importantly, it demands answers from the parents. Now, the question is, will they be able to get these yapping hyenas called the teachers union to actually cause the teachers to follow it in the classroom? That's going to be the question is, can the state of Florida work successfully with the teachers union? You remember how much fun teachers unions are, Pat? You've dealt with a couple.
So they have to enforce it, but the parents are going to be able to put it all out there and get a very formalized form that they respond to.

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**Snyder** (3:34)
I agree. No, this is the way education should work. It should, again, the proper process and proper procedure is parents first, school second. So, if they would do more of this instead of trying to hide curriculum and hide methodology, and you're right, Tom, teachers unions are going to be difficult. When there was that story in the notes here about that upstate New York Salamanca school that was going to pilot program, a AI sort of robot teacher, and of course, that caused a big thing.
This is the way of the future. This is going to happen. So, the way to lead it into the future is exactly this way, to give parents information ahead of time. I mean, not every parent is going to make an informed decision. They're going to be emotional, whatever. But if you give them more information about what you intend to do, what problem you're intending to solve with this technology, and how you intend to use it, it is far superior than just bearing it down deep into the curriculum, bearing it down deep into teachers' days, how they actually operate a classroom, and nobody knows until it's actually in Wisconsin, everything in there. Because this is such a transformational technology, we need to be upfront and transparent from the very beginning.