Phoenix (AZ Family) — Arizona education officials plan to use artificial intelligence to identify inappropriate requests in the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program.
The ESA program has been abused in recent years, with tax dollars going to luxury goods and vacations instead of students. State education officials said misuse of ESA funds accounts for less than 2% of all ESA requests.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horn said the Department of Education plans to use AI to police the program.
AI to review ESA requests
“We want to eliminate all of these errors, and AI will do that for us,” Horn said.
One of the department’s biggest challenges is staffing. The department that investigates what parents spend their money on is understaffed. Currently, there are eight auditors.
“We get 2 million requests a year, which means 250,000 requests per person. That’s not humanly possible,” Horn said.
The goal is for the AI to scan requests and purchases, approving requests that are clearly educational and flagging others.
Programs scheduled for next month
Horn said the system will take time to develop because officials need to trust that they won’t make mistakes.
“Once it’s developed, it’s almost instantaneous, but development takes time because you have to trust that you won’t make mistakes,” Horn said.
The Department of Education has been developing the system for more than a year with ClassWallet, the company it uses to manage ESA accounts.
The department plans to begin using the AI program next month. Officials also plan to introduce a system to double-check the program’s warnings.
AI programs do not cost taxpayers any extra money.
Other uses of AI in Arizona
The Department of Education isn’t the only agency using AI in Arizona. On June 15, Maricopa County was shown using AI-powered cameras to search for wildfires.
David Ebert, an AI expert at the University of Arizona, said the use of AI by governments is becoming more common.
“I would say that use by government agencies is becoming widespread and very basic,” Evert said.
Ebert said that while AI is becoming useful to governments and the general public, users need to realize that AI is not perfect.
“You have to use your own judgment. You have to make a decision based on the situation,” Evert said. “However, please use this as a way to provide additional information or confirm the information provided.”
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