he country’s two biggest teachers unions are working to get diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ideology into artificial intelligence models before they are used in grades K-12, sparking backlash from at least one education and parental rights advocacy group.
The unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, essentially say they are making such efforts, including becoming involved in the process at state-level education departments, to mitigate AI models’ “algorithmic bias.”
The term is essentially defined as AI-generated results that are incorrect, unfair or prejudiced as a result, in part, of the prejudices, whether blind or intentional, of the model creators, typically white or Asian men.
Such efforts were flagged in a recent report by Defending Education, a national conservative and right-of-center grassroots advocacy organization.
“Within the next few years, most K-12 schools and colleges will integrate AI into their curricula … helping students with research assignments and even creating specialized feedback for each student,” says the group before warning, “The problem is that unions, left-wing activists, and groups in the education field are already setting the foundation to use these AI tools to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to students during their formative years.”
While the group singles out the country’s two most powerful teachers’ unions, it cites similars efforts by such groups, associations and organizations as:
- The California Teachers Association assisting the California Department of Education in creating guidance for K-12 schools with language advocating for “educators to approach AI with an equity lens.”
- The American Association of School Administrators promoting the idea that “white males” are a problem in the creation of AI.
“The goal of these groups is to implement DEI ideology into AI before it can be fully integrated into America’s education system,” Defending Education continued. “If DEI is embedded in AI before schools adopt these new tools, then DEI, as part of AI, becomes institutionalized in the nation’s schools once the tools are adopted.”
Neither the AFT nor NEA responded to a request for comment.
Hellbound and Down 