A very complicated question in classrooms so far -- how does artificial intelligence have to be handled in learning?
One Hingham student has brought that question front and center here in Massachusetts. And the case is scheduled to be heard Tuesday in federal court in Boston.
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It's an interesting case because nowadays it’s almost harder not to use artificial intelligence.
If you do a Google search, it’s the first thing that comes up.
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So imagine being a high school student researching a project online – it’s totally different than even just a few years ago.
The Hingham High School student and another classmate were writing a history paper last year when they used AI for some of their research notes – not to write the paper itself.
A teacher discovered the AI usage, and the students were given a detention, kept off the National Honor Society, and given a zero on that portion of the project.
But it was such a large portion of their grade that this normally straight A student got a C+ for the class.
He’s now a senior applying to colleges, and his parents are concerned this will affect where he gets accepted.
They believe the punishment is too harsh for using technology that is used every day now, the implications of which haven’t been fully fleshed out even beyond high school.
And they argue that there were no AI rules in the school handbook for their son to follow.
Hingham Public Schools declined comment, but since the incident, have released updated guidance on AI use.
“His punishment for this situation has been extreme and ongoing and it is now interfering with his applications to college, which they promised us when we discussed it back in December that it wouldn’t do, so we had to get a lawyer involved because they were not being transparent, they were dragging their feet, I think trying to get to the summer so we would drop it and not think about it," said Jennifer Harris, the mother of the Hingham High student.
The hearing in federal court is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.
