Stanford Summit Maps the AI Education Landscape: From Literacy to Ethics

The third AI+Education Summit at Stanford brought together researchers, educators, tech developers, and policymakers to address critical questions about centering humanity in AI-powered learning ecosystems. The convening revealed both transformative possibilities and urgent challenges facing schools as AI becomes ubiquitous in education.

Stanford associate professor Victor Lee raised the fundamental question of what it means to be "AI literate," studying how high school students currently use AI for tasks like grammar checking and group work collaboration. His survey of teachers found they want to understand how to use AI to teach, how to teach about AI, and how AI actually works. With California now requiring AI literacy in K-12 curriculum, Lee stressed the urgency of developing a common framework encompassing user, developer, and critic perspectives.

Why K-12 Educators Should Care: District leaders are already taking action despite limited state guidance. New York City Public Schools is providing professional development for 10,000 staff members and created a K-12 AI Policy Lab, while Washington's Peninsula School District established an AI action research team and university partnerships. Former North Carolina superintendent Catherine Truitt noted that only 26 states have issued AI guidance, leaving teachers without tools to navigate AI's classroom presence and creating equity issues when districts issue blanket bans.

The summit highlighted critical ethical tensions. Stanford professor Rob Reich argued that developing AI to simply mimic humans is outdated—the focus should be on how AI can amplify human intelligence. InnovateEDU CEO Erin Mote identified privacy as the top concern for policymakers and parents, emphasizing the need for clarity on who protects student data and intentional focus on mitigating bias in educational AI tools.

Key Takeaway: Summit participants largely agreed that teachers, students, parents, and policymakers must be involved in the design and implementation of new technology. As NYC's Tara Carrozza put it: "We need to take co-design as a policy, not as a nice to have". The message is clear—AI in education isn't something to figure out later; the decisions are being made right now, and educators need a seat at the table.