Artificial intelligence in schools should be implemented with a balanced approach that prioritizes both opportunity and responsibility, according to formal comments submitted by AFSA to the U.S. Department of Education on advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in schools.
“We are very encouraged by the Trump Administration and the Secretary of Education’s recognition that students need strong AI literacy skills to prepare them for a society where technology increasingly drives communication, decision-making, and career readiness,” said AFSA President Mark Cannizzaro. “We are pleased the DOE has opened a comment period for education groups like AFSA to help shape the future conversation on these important topics.”
At the Triennial Convention in July, AFSA delegates unanimously adopted a policy resolution on AI, affirming that AI offers powerful opportunities to improve teaching, learning, and school operations—from automating administrative tasks to personalizing instruction, identifying student needs, and providing data-driven insights.
In the comments to the Department, AFSA stressed that opportunity must be matched with support for educators. AFSA wrote that teachers and school leaders alike need comprehensive professional knowledge and training to use and teach AI effectively. The Department’s proposal to include AI in pre-service preparation, in-service training, and specialized professional development was welcomed, but AFSA urged officials to explicitly broaden those priorities to include principals, assistant principals, and other administrators. “It is imperative that school leaders be trained alongside other education professionals,” AFSA emphasized.
At the same time, AFSA warned of risks, pointing to plagiarism, misinformation, threats to intellectual property, and potential violations of student privacy. The AFSA policy resolution, “Integrate Artificial Intelligence into Public Education with Integrity,” declared that public education must lead the thoughtful, ethical, and human-centered integration of AI. It also resolved that AFSA would work with Congress and local school boards to:
- Fund professional development that prepares both educators and administrators to use AI tools effectively and ethically.
- Ensure transparency and accountability in how AI systems are adopted in schools.
- Protect student privacy and data security through strong safeguards.
AFSA further emphasized the importance of preserving human-centered skills that risk being diminished by over-reliance on technology. Drawing on lessons from mobile and screen-based technologies that weakened in-person connections, AFSA urged the Department to safeguard essential skills such as oracy, collaboration, empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity, active listening, conflict resolution, and problem-solving.
To advance this priority, AFSA recommended that federally funded AI projects include:
- Human-Centered Skills Impact Assessments — requiring grantees to report on how AI adoption may affect student interpersonal and emotional development.
- Balanced Integration Models — ensuring AI complements, rather than replaces, real-world collaboration and connection.
- Skill Preservation Frameworks — strategies to maintain human competencies while using AI to enrich learning.
- Ongoing Review and Adjustment — evaluations led by school leaders to ensure AI strengthens both technological and human fluency.
AFSA also called for greater primacy in addressing AI misuse, including the responsible, ethical, and moral use of AI by both staff and students. The union urged the Department to create a separate funding criterion or grant opportunity dedicated specifically to developing training and materials on ethical AI use.
“Innovation must not come at the expense of the human qualities that allow students not just to adapt to change, but to lead it,” AFSA wrote.