There has been an emerging trend in our education classes, regardless of course subject matter, to have conversation about “the big ba- no, the coolest tool… but also the scariest invention”, aka Artificial Intelligence (AI).

On Friday, our class had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about AI and internet safety that we will inevitably need to acknowledge and create boundaries with in our future classrooms. We discussed how amazing AI can be, but also how terrifying it is because AI is advancing faster than government legislation, and it has an enormous carbon footprint. Truthfully, I do not know how I feel about AI, but, as the guest speaker discussed, the reality is that it is now a tool that is not going away and is something we must evolve with, just like social media was for the generation of educators before me.

I decided to look into the actual impact AI has on our environment. I first watched the CBC video that you can see below. Hearing that training one AI model can produce 626,000lbs of CO2, the equivalent of 5 cars in their lifetime, was shocking. However, it was interesting to also hear that AI could be used to reduce general carbon emissions and help firefighters contain fires due to early detection technology.

AI is tool that I believe should be regulated for many reasons: to protect our young people and anyone who is vulnerable to cybercrimes, to protect copyright, to save lives, and for the safety and secuirty of global citizens.

Although I believe AI should be regulated, there currently is next to no regulations, and it is in the hands of almost all students and children. Because of this, I think AI is a tool teachers should ackowledge and engage with to demonstrate safe practices and AI responsibility to our students. By using AI with our students we help prepare them to be responsible citizens and for the changing world and job market they will eventually enter, while still keeping their spark of creativity alive.

AI also has the potential to be a helpful resource for teachers when creating and implementing IEPs in the classroom. Whether it be Magic School AI that helps teachers creating IEP goals and lesson plans, or Google Read & Write, AI has the ability to help both students and teachers with diverse needs and goals thrive in and outside the classroom.