Franklin Regional officials paused a proposed artificial intelligence summer student program after questions arose about its content.
Inspirit AI is an eight-session summer program developed and taught by graduates of Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT.
“Students will learn the fundamental concepts of AI and gain a deeper understanding of how AI is used to build ChatGPT and generative AI, fight the covid-19 pandemic, power self-driving cars and more,” according to a program description provided by Inspirit AI. “Students will learn to program AI using Python … (and) discuss ethics and bias within AI.”
School board member Josh Zebrak objected.
“Let’s not get into a discussion about ethics and bias,” Zebrak said at the board’s March 25 meeting. “I think the discussion should be focused on AI, how it works and how you program it.”
Fellow board member Scott Weinman, a senior IT security analyst at the University of Pittsburgh, said learning how ethics and bias can influence and affect AI output is a critical part of understanding artificial intelligence overall.
“I think understanding those biases is important,” Weinman said. “I don’t have an issue with learning how the machine does that. If they’re going to go beyond the coding, there’s an issue with instilling values in people. But understanding how the biases can come out of the AI process? I do think that’s important.”
Zebrak said he had no problem with Stanford and MIT graduates teaching students, “but I say cut this (ethics and bias) stuff out, because it gives them an opportunity to preach and give their opinion on things they have no right to give.”
Several board members, as well as Superintendent Gennaro Piraino, said AI is a tool that already is being used more and more in daily life, from cellphone GPS to ChatGPT.
“We’re in the infancy of AI, and, as a parent, it scares the hell out of me,” Piraino said. “There are people writing books, speeches and all sorts of things and trying to pass it off as their own work. … I see it as a tool, and learning how to use that tool ethically is important.”
The voluntary summer program would cost $1,500 per student, if offered. The board voted unanimously to request more curriculum information and bring the program back for a potential vote at its April 8 meeting.
“I’m in favor of teaching our students everything we can to prepare for the future,” Zebrak said. “I do think there should be a discussion of ethics and biases in how AI functions. I just don’t know if graduates from Stanford and MIT should be the ones to do it.”
The school board’s April 8 meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Murrysville Municipal Building, 4100 Sardis Road. Meetings also are broadcast live on Comcast local access Channel 21.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
