Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt on A.I.: ‘Keep it out of Elementary School’

EXCERPT:

HAIDT: “So let's look at what's happened to our kids. Silicon Valley ran a giant uncontrolled experiment on our kids. They were guinea pigs for social media. There was no testing. It's damaged their mental health. Silicon Valley escaped. Well, now, finally, there are lawsuits. Then they ran an uncontrolled experiment with educational technology. They put computers and tablets on every kid's desk, and test scores went down. It appears to have damaged education, not helped it. And now they want to run a third experiment on younger kids, giving them all A.I.. Already, we know that A.I. causes a decrement of learning. It's devastating us in higher ed. Students don't learn to think if they can just have A.I. give them the answers. So I'm extremely negative about the role of A.I. in education, especially in elementary school. And I say, let's not do another uncontrolled experiment. Just keep it out of elementary school. That's where kids need to learn basic skills. Don't have them interacting with chatbots. And, look, in high school, we can experiment, but, for now, let's keep it out of elementary schools."