Stop designing AI for students; start designing it with them

“Clanker!” Jesse was yelling in frustration at his computer.

“Hey! Can someone help me reword this? Gemini’s being lame,” Daphne called out.

Cindy rolled her eyes. She was getting AI’s advice on how to “schmooze” her teachers to give a speech at graduation.

Lincoln broke his wrist recently. Scanning his X-ray and doctor’s diagnosis into AI, he perked up: “It’s exactly the same! I knew he got it from AI.”

And all I can do is smile.

I have witnessed a similar scene in my room during lunch for the past five months. I have been meeting with a group of eighth-grade students to pilot different Artificial Intelligence tools. These kids walk different roads, but have been brought together because I wanted to experiment with what would happen if my students and I learned about AI together.

AI is becoming deeply enmeshed in the education system. In Illinois, Teach Plus teacher leaders wrote and championed the state’s first legislation on AI in schools, requiring the state to provide much-needed guidance for schools and requiring that classroom teachers be a part of any statewide AI conversation. Across the country, tech companies like Google are working with educator organizations to provide AI training to educators.

We need all these efforts and more. And we will also be missing an opportunity if we do not design AI instruction and guidance with our students.

First, schools and districts must prioritize student-facing professional development. We need to emphasize AI in school and district improvement plans, but also provide an opportunity to create even more change:

What if students help design adult learning?

I see how my students are AI deep. Once he solved the mystery of his doctor’s diagnosis, Lincoln created an app that remotely controls his home computer. Daphne interrogates AI about its own energy consumption, while Delia gets help with her dungeon master tasks in D&D, and Noor builds out her henna business. Adia deepens her love of Christopher Nolan films through conversing with AI about how he “expresses the inexpressible.”

These students have become AI experts, and schools should leverage that expertise by involving students in developing their AI policies.

After teaching me and one another, I proposed this group of students teach our staff about AI. They will get their opportunity in the spring. Students leading adult learning is transformative, because it elevates their voices, which should be centered when discussing a technology that defines so much of their learning and living.

Second, AI learning must be personalized to each student. We have never had more information about student performance, yet many of them remain invisible. AI can tap into student experiences and interests to create student growth and meaningful teaching.

Tilly had to do a report on the 1919 urban violence in Chicago. She interviewed AI as an eyewitness to the unrest, thinking like a historian. Jesse used AI as a peer editor, asking it for feedback on his essay’s claim, evidence and reasoning. Francis created a Google gem with day-by-day planning to become a better test taker. Students become more visible agents in their learning when they co-design it with teachers and AI.

Even though I’m excited about all the work my students are doing with AI, it scares me. We grapple with its environmental effects, its transformation of the job market and even whether its military applications could be used against civilians.

During one lunch period, I reminded my AI “teachers” that because we don’t know much about AI, their future is lamentably impossible to determine.

Jesse responded: “This is kind of like pulling back the curtain and seeing how things really work. We’re doing something really different.”

And then, I thought, “What if AI could change things?” What if AI could transform school into a place where students co-design their own and adult learning? What if AI can bring forth a moment where school is altered from one-size-fits-all to honoring every student’s passions? What if AI could be what we have been waiting for: Students and teachers working through technology changes and challenges together, so no one is left behind?

What if we could pull back the curtain to discover a moment where something new, powerful, and exciting can be created to help students not merely survive school, but thrive in it?

When I think about this, all I can do is smile because I see a joy of possibility and discovery that can only happen if students are our partners on this journey.

The bell rings, and lunch ends. Cindy approaches me.

“Mr. Kannan,” she says, “I think I got this.”

And all I can do is smile.

• Ashley Kannan teaches eighth-grade American History and African American Studies at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park. He is a Teach Plus Leading Edge Fellow.