Artificial intelligence will likely play a huge role in our lives in the future, especially when it comes to education. WESH 2’s Jason Guy found out how Central Florida school districts will be using the technology in the year ahead.

“The artificial intelligence revolution is here,” said Dr. Haifa Maamar, education director of Emerging Technologies at Full Sail University.

Local school district leaders are approaching the 2023-2024 academic year by addressing artificial intelligence.

“The research is showing that in the next six to seven years, so many professions will be touched by artificial intelligence. So we need our kiddos to be ready,” Seminole County Public Schools Superintendent Serita Beamon said.

Some district leaders are excited about the idea, but others are approaching with caution, like Lake County Superintendent Diane Kornegay.

“There’s still a lot to learn about artificial intelligence,” Kornegay said. “We have a great instructional technology team that is looking at the research and looking at some best practices, and hopefully, with some more guidance from the state, will have a better idea of the role that AI will play in enhancing classroom instruction and moving forward.”

Teachers in Osceola and Volusia counties will be using AI. They’ll explore ways to increase productivity, enhance the educational experience, and possibly reduce teacher burnout.

Seminole County students will be able to take Artificial Intelligence programs of emphasis this year at Crooms Academy and Hagerty High School.

“We’re not just going to be teaching our kiddos about the actual coding, the development, but also the ethics,” said Beamon. “We think they’re going to be future-ready.”

Maamar specializes in emerging tech and understands the challenges of AI. Maamar cautions, “You need to think about the legal aspect of it, you have to think about the privacy aspect of it.”

She says to pay attention to copyright as ai could use someone else’s work.

“Read everything there because sometimes some of these tools will say that they own whatever product or whatever thing or project you’re going to produce using that generative AI tool,” Maamar said.

At a recent conference in Orlando, I talked to PowerSchool CEO Hardeep Gulati. Gulati tells me their educational software serves 50 million students in North America, including students in Central Florida.