The district discussed its AI plans during a year-end news conference Monday at the CMS Education Center.
It is currently unclear how educators will use the technology. CMS plans to update its K-12 curriculum and staff trainings before releasing a document in August outlining changes.
“We are proud that CMS is leading the way nationally in how public school systems approach artificial intelligence,” Candace Salmon-Hosey, chief technology officer, said.
CMS will base AI policies on the system’s six-month stint of community engagement sessions with students, teachers and parents, Salmon-Hosey said.
“One of the common themes of the feedback was a safe approach was necessary,” she added.
HOW WILL CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS USE AI?
Executive director of educational technology Rebecca Lehtinen said CMS’s AI focus is on empowerment rather than misuse. She added that AI should be used in the classroom to “enhance” learning but not to “create content” so students still practice critical thinking.
“You are not going to be able to AI your way out of the skills that are needed for today’s task force,” CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill said.
She emphasized cultivating “prosocial classrooms,” which focus on emotional connection and human development. These skills cannot be replaced by AI, Hill said.
“Anything can be abused and misused. It happens all the time,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that AI itself is bad.”
Currently, students are unable to access AI tools on CMS campuses, and beginning next year, AI will be locked on CMS devices, even on home networks, officials said Monday.
CMS STUDENT DATA
Both Hill and Salmon-Hosey emphasized data privacy and cybersecurity as part of the AI work.
“I don’t think the average person understands the connection between AI and data privacy,” Hill said. “And so the reason why we’ve been so tight is because we’re very concerned about students and employees’ data being put into AI.”
Hill said she’s concerned that information entered into AI systems during students’ K-12 years could resurface later, potentially impacting their future educational or career opportunities based on how they previously used AI in school.
Hill said CMS will explore generative AI options for schools that are “very protective of our data.”
CMS is considering both Google Gemini and Microsoft Co-Pilot as potential companies they’d use for AI services, Salmon-Hosey said.
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