The Leon County Board of Education has approved a new artificial intelligence policy for students and faculty to follow as AI grows popular in the education sector.
Prior to the June 17 approval, students were unable to access the AI chatbot on the district's network or devices, but teachers are using AI for lesson plans.
Green light from the board allows district staff to explore software options for implementation and train teachers ahead of the start of the 2025-26 academic year.
What comes with the new rules is a companion policy to ensure that students do not use technology to misconduct. Academic integrity policies represent the consequences of the ethical use of AI and violations. The policy reveals to students that misconduct and harassment are direct violations and the consequences can be as serious as expulsion.
Academic and honest policy protection prohibits fraud in all forms, including using AI to “create content and send content as its own.”
The use of AI in districts is only used in “closed systems.” This means that the software does not store memories or “learning” from the uploaded material. Most mainstream chatbots like ChatGpt retain information. This is a concern for the district when protecting student data.
The identified and approved uses of AI are:
- Research support to quickly and efficiently find information related to school assignments.
- Analyze a large amount of allocation data.
- Translate the language in documents.
- Provides grammar and spelling modifications.
- Help students with disabilities understand materials.
Alija Brown covers children and families for Tallahassee Democrats. You can contact her aborn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter/X: @alaijahbrown3.
