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☆ School Employee Arrested After Racist Deepfake Recording of Principal Spreads
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

While the district investigated, Mr. Eiswert, who denied making the comments, was inundated with threats to his safety, the police said. He was also placed on administrative leave, the school district said. Now Mr. Darien is facing charges including disrupting school operations and stalking the principal. Mr. Eiswert referred a request for comment to a trade group for principals, the Council of Administrative and Supervisory Employees, which did not return a call from a reporter. Mr. Darien, who posted bond on Thursday, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Persons: Eric Eiswert, Eiswert Organizations: Pikesville High, Baltimore County Police Department, Public Schools, Administrative, Supervisory Employees Locations: Baltimore, Dazhon Darien, Darien

is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies.

Persons: Trump Organizations: The Times

☆ DeSantis Signs Social Media Bill Barring Accounts for Children Under 14
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Florida on Monday became the first state to effectively bar residents under the age of 14 from holding accounts on services like TikTok and Instagram, enacting a strict social media bill that is likely to upend the lives of many young people. Ron DeSantis, is one of the more restrictive measures that a state has enacted so far in an escalating nationwide push to insulate young people from potential mental health and safety risks on social media platforms. The statute both prohibits certain social networks from giving accounts to children under 14 and requires the services to terminate accounts that a platform knew or believed belonged to underage users. It also requires the platforms to obtain a parent’s permission before giving accounts to 14- and 15-year-olds. In a press conference on Monday, Mr. DeSantis hailed the measure, saying it will help parents navigate “difficult terrain” online.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis Organizations: Gov Locations: Florida

☆ At Meta, Millions of Underage Users Were an ‘Open Secret,’ States Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But much of the evidence cited by the states was blacked out by redactions in the initial filing. Now the unsealed complaint, filed on Wednesday evening, provides new details from the states’ lawsuit. Using snippets from internal emails, employee chats and company presentations, the complaint contends that Instagram for years “coveted and pursued” underage users even as the company “failed” to comply with the children’s privacy law. The unsealed filing said that Meta “continually failed” to make effective age-checking systems a priority and instead used approaches that enabled users under 13 to lie about their age to set up Instagram accounts. It also accused Meta executives of publicly stating in congressional testimony that the company’s age-checking process was effective and that the company removed underage accounts when it learned of them — even as the executives knew there were millions of underage users on Instagram.

Persons: Instagram, Meta “, “, ” Adam Mosseri, Mosseri, Meta, ” Organizations: redactions, Meta

☆ This Florida School District Banned Cellphones. Here’s What Happened.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One afternoon last month, hundreds of students at Timber Creek High School in Orlando poured into the campus’s sprawling central courtyard to hang out and eat lunch. For members of an extremely online generation, their activities were decidedly analog. In May, Florida passed a law requiring public school districts to impose rules barring student cellphone use during class time. This fall, Orange County Public Schools — which includes Timber Creek High — went even further, barring students from using cellphones during the entire school day. In interviews, a dozen Orange County parents and students all said they supported the no-phone rules during class.

Organizations: High School, Orange County Public, Orange Locations: Timber, Orlando, Florida, Orange County

☆ School Cellphone Bans Are Trending. Do They Work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Earlier this year, Florida passed a law requiring public schools statewide to ban student cellphone use during class time. In early October, the British government issued new guidelines recommending that student cellphone use be prohibited in schools nationwide. Such bans typically make exceptions for students with disabilities and for educational uses approved by teachers. Proponents say the bans prevent students from scrolling through social media and sending bullying text messages, reducing classroom distractions. Critics warn that cutting off students from their phones could disproportionately punish those with jobs or family responsibilities — and that enforcing the bans could boost harsh disciplinary measures like school suspensions.

Persons: — Organizations: UNESCO, United Nations Locations: Florida, Italy, China

The NewsMeta was sued by more than three dozen states on Tuesday for knowingly using features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the company said its social media sites were safe for young people. The District of Columbia and eight other states filed separate lawsuits on Tuesday against Meta with most of the same claims. The states said Meta’s algorithms were designed to push children and teenagers into rabbit holes of toxic and harmful content. Features like “infinite scroll” and persistent alerts were used to hook young users, the states said. “Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the states said in their lawsuit.

Persons: “, ” Meta, “ We’re Organizations: Meta, Northern, Northern District of, of Columbia Locations: Colorado , Tennessee, Massachusetts, U.S, Northern District, Northern District of California

☆ To Test the A.I. Learning Hype, I Visited Classrooms
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. In January, Marisa Shuman, a computer science teacher at the Young Women’s Leadership School of the Bronx, invited me to spend a few days embedded in her classroom. Her school, a public middle and high school for girls, specializes in math, science and technology. As a reporter who has spent years chronicling how tech companies and their tools are reshaping public schools, I jumped at the chance. At the time, ChatGPT was beginning to blow up in schools and on college campuses.

Persons: Marisa Shuman, ChatGPT Organizations: Young Women’s, School, Tech

☆ Dependence on Tech Caused ‘Staggering’ Education Inequality, U.N. Agency Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In early 2020, as the coronavirus spread, schools around the world abruptly halted in-person education. To many governments and parents, moving classes online seemed the obvious stopgap solution. In the United States, school districts scrambled to secure digital devices for students. Almost overnight, videoconferencing software like Zoom became the main platform teachers used to deliver real-time instruction to students at home. Now a report from UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational and cultural organization, says that overreliance on remote learning technology during the pandemic led to “staggering” education inequality around the world.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: UNESCO, United Nations, Education Locations: United States

☆ Applying to College? Here’s How A.I. Tools Might Hurt, or Help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

I spent the last week talking with university officials, teachers and high school seniors about the dreaded college admissions essay. And I’ve been thinking a lot about how artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, which can manufacture school essays and other texts, might reshape the college application process. I was particularly interested to learn whether admissions officials were rejiggering their essay questions — or even reconsidering personal essays altogether. Amid a deluge of high school transcripts and teacher recommendations, admissions officers often use students’ writing samples to identify applicants with unique voices, experiences, ideas and potential. How might that change now that many students are using A.I.

Persons: chatbots Organizations: The Times

☆ Ban or Embrace? Colleges Wrestle With A.I.-Generated Admissions Essays.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rick Clark, the executive director of undergraduate admission at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his staff spent weeks this summer pretending to be high school students using A.I. The admissions officers each took on a different high school persona: swim team captain, Eagle Scout, musical theater performer. chatbot to produce the kind of extracurricular activity lists and personal essays commonly required on college applications. “Students on some level are going to have access to and use A.I.,” Mr. Clark said. “The big question is: How do we want to direct them, knowing that it’s out there and available to them?”

Persons: Rick Clark, Clark, ” Mr Organizations: Georgia Institute of Technology, Eagle Scout, —, Georgia Tech, “

☆ We Used A.I. to Write Essays for Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Here’s How It Went.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

to Write Essays for Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Whether their use on college applications is ethical is the subject of fierce debate. As high school seniors begin working on their college applications, many are turning to A.I. While the chatbots are not yet great at simulating long-form personal essays with authentic student voices, I wondered how the A.I. So I used several free tools to generate short essays for some Ivy League applications.

Persons: Bard, chatbots ’, ChatGPT, Courtney Barnett Organizations: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Ivy League

☆ How teachers and students feel about A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

We recently asked educators, professors, and high school and college students to tell us about their experiences using A.I. — Katy Pearce, associate professor, University of WashingtonBefore they even use ChatGPT, I help students discern what is worth knowing, figuring out how to look it up, and what information or research is worth “outsourcing” to A.I. chatbots are making it a lot easier for students to understand difficult concepts in a simple way. It can provide students with endless examples of how to outline essays, business plans and emails. will have on students in the long run but I just don’t want it to make students lazy, as the joy of learning is that “AHA!” moment that comes from figuring something out yourself.

Persons: I’ve, — Katy Pearce, — Nicole Haddad, — Amedeo Bettauer, Sam Avery, chatbots, — Emma Nazario Organizations: A.I, University of Washington, Southern Methodist University, Brookline High School, University of Iowa, AHA, Wheaton

☆ Despite Cheating Fears, Schools Repeal ChatGPT Bans
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Students who depend on district devices and connectivity are restricted.”In May, New York City schools issued a public mea culpa, saying the district had acted too hastily and would unblock ChatGPT. This week, Mr. Carvalho said that Los Angeles schools were also working on a more permissive policy. As schools reopen for fall, educators and district leaders are wrestling with complex questions posed by the A.I. tools: What should writing assignments look like in an era when students can simply employ chatbots to generate prose for them? Some districts like Newark Public Schools are trying out specialized chatbots specifically designed for student tutoring.

Persons: OpenAI, Bard, ” Alberto M, Carvalho Organizations: “, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los, Newark Public Schools Locations: San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark

After a research report last week found that YouTube’s advertising practices had the potential to undercut the privacy of children watching children’s videos, the company said it limited the collection of viewer data and did not serve targeted ads on such videos. Under a federal privacy law, however, children’s online services must obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under 13 to target them with ads — a commitment YouTube extended to anyone watching a children’s video. Now Fairplay, a prominent children’s group, is challenging the company’s privacy statements. The group said it had used advertising placement tools from YouTube’s parent company, Google, to run a $10 ad campaign this month targeted at different groups of adults, exclusively on children’s video channels. In total, the group’s ads were placed 1,446 times on YouTube children’s video channels.

Persons: ”, Tom ”, Fairplay Organizations: Google, YouTube

☆ Are You Using ChatGPT in Your School or University? We Want to Hear About It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

New chatbots powered by artificial intelligence upended public schools and universities across the United States last winter. Now, as the new academic year begins, some educational institutions are embracing the chatbots, while others are not. We’re asking educators and students to tell us how they are using A.I. chatbots as education tools. tools have changed your academic life.

Persons: We’d Locations: United States

As with children’s television, it is legal, and commonplace, to run ads, including for adult consumer products like cars or credit cards, on children’s videos. There is no evidence that Google and YouTube violated their 2019 agreement with the F.T.C. The Times shared some of Adalytics’ research with Google ahead of its publication. Google told The Times it was useful to run ads for adults on children’s videos because parents who were watching could become customers. When ads appear on children’s videos, the company said, they are based on webpage content, not targeted to user profiles.

Persons: Michael Aciman, Adalytics Organizations: YouTube, Times, Google, The Wall Street, COPPA

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