Sarah Murmann teaches her dual credit statistics class for seniors at Crystal Lake South High School, March 18, 2025. Murmann testified at a state House committee hearing on legislation that would establish guidelines for teachers and school administrators on how to use artificial intelligence. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) SPRINGFIELD — About a year and a half ago, Crystal Lake South High School math teacher Sarah Murmann grew concerned when she heard one of her students say he met his girlfriend through an artificial intelligence-based social media site.
The revelation ignited a larger conversation with her class about what they knew about AI, which made her realize she was not adequately informed about the new technology.
“Despite all the potential that I’ve seen with AI, there’s still a gap in Illinois,” Murmann said last week during a state House committee hearing on legislation that would establish guidelines for teachers and school administrators on how to use AI. “A year and half after I had to start making my own decisions about AI in the classroom, I still have no official guidance to turn to.”
“We look to the state for support and Illinois has no state guidance for educators on AI,” Murmann said. “That means teachers like me in schools across all of Illinois have to make our best guess every day and hope that it’s right.”
The bill Murmann testified on is one of several measures Illinois lawmakers are considering for the new legislative session on how to respond to the emergence of artificial intelligence.
Like other state legislatures around the country, the Illinois General Assembly in the last couple of years has grappled with how to address a rapidly evolving technology that replicates human intelligence and, everyone seems to agree, has potential benefits as well as the ability to cause significant harm.
“We have to think about how to build systems that bring out the best in us by being very smart as opposed to reducing us by being very smart,” said Kristian Hammond, a computer science professor at Northwestern University who is the director of a master’s level artificial intelligence program. “There will be […]
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