My Stance on GenAI and chatbots in Classrooms

PACES Vancouver, a grassroots parent group concerned about the integration of GenAI and chatbots into BC classrooms recently asked me, and other candidates, my position on AI Chatbots in education and if elected, would you work to remove, or keep out, AI Chatbots from classrooms? Here is my response to them:

Children absorbed in solitary computer use, highlighting the paradox of digital connectivity that isolates individuals even when they are together. Picture Credit: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_3653aca691154d2b818d016405233fe0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_925,h_694,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/11062b_3653aca691154d2b818d016405233fe0~mv2.jpg

As an English teacher of 26 years, my position on AI chatbots in education is rooted in deep, practical experience with how students learn, connect, and develop critical thinking. I strongly support an immediate pause on the implementation of AI chatbots in British Columbia classrooms. Our primary focus must always be on genuine human literacy, authentic communication, and safeguarding the mental and emotional development of our children.

If elected, I will actively work to keep generative AI chatbots out of our K-12 classrooms. This is not about being anti-technology; it is about being pro-child. We are currently witnessing the serious harms of an ever-growing "Attachment Economy," where algorithms are explicitly designed to capture and monetize children’s attention, driving them away from real-world relationships and toward digital dependency. The social risks—ranging from decreased attention spans to heightened anxiety and an erosion of independent thought—are far too significant to ignore.

In School District 35, the Technology Plan and AI Steering Committee have already had to grapple with major concerns around data privacy, FOIPPA compliance, and AI-generated inaccuracies. While the district attempts to navigate these issues, I believe the safest approach for our students is a firm pause on conversational chat tools. Teachers should not have to act as the "cellphone and AI police."

This protective stance aligns perfectly with the broader, necessary shift we are seeing across the country, including the highly anticipated federal legislation around cellphone bans from Prime Minister Mark Carney, which builds upon the province's bell-to-bell restrictions that simply —  teachers must be supported in their compliance efforts. Classrooms must remain sanctuaries for focused learning, human mentorship, and deep peer-to-peer engagement. Before we introduce powerful, unregulated conversational AI into SD35 schools, we must prioritize the digital well-being of our students and protect them from the predatory mechanics of the digital attachment economy.