Background 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a civil rights crisis in the classroom. Schools regularly expose students to deeply harmful AI technologies in high-stakes contexts such as discipline, disability services, school policing, language access, and mental health programs. Fueled by a largely unregulated, trillion-dollar AI industry, schools have become a testing ground for dangerous AI products that compromise student privacy, suppress free expression, and violate fundamental rights. For example, research by the NOTICE Coalition and reporting from the Guardian found that over 100 public school districts in the United States have installed Flock Safety cameras. In one Texas school district, this resulted in more than 3100 police agencies conducting over 733,000 warrantless searches on eight school cameras in one month–including searches related to federal immigration enforcement. In Florida, a school district used predictive analytics to build secret databases of over 17,000 vulnerable children based on their grades and histories of trauma and abuse. In Kansas, student journalists filed a federal lawsuit against their school district for using AI-powered spyware to monitor their school-issued devices and censor constitutionally protected speech.    

These conditions are unacceptable. We cannot allow AI and EdTech companies to erase fundamental rights and democratic values in public education. For the last year, we have worked together to build a shared vision for youth justice in the digital age. 

This briefing will feature leaders in the field of youth justice from across the United States who will discuss the impact of AI on youth justice and education equity, including: 

• The impact of AI surveillance in schools on the school-to-prison pipeline. 

• How local communities are challenging AI's impact on civil rights and liberties in schools. 

• Policy solutions that tackle the AI civil rights crisis in public education.

We are gathering in DC to present our vision and our solutions to congressional staff on the Hill. We hope you will join us.