How should New York City govern artificial intelligence in public education so that it protects human learning, prepares young people for an AI-shaped economy, and expands opportunity?
Your job is not to prove that AI is good or bad. Your job is to investigate what different forms of AI do, who benefits, who carries the risks, and what rules would serve students and the public.
What will you investigate?
- What kinds of AI are already present in school and daily life?
- What helps people learn, and what gets in the way?
- What should students, families, and teachers be able to know or refuse?
- Who owns the data, the technology, and work created with it?
- Who makes the rules, and whose voice is missing?
- What would fair access and meaningful preparation look like?
Before you start · Read these two
Two short readers put the decision in your hands.
Each one is two pages. Read them before Session 1 — they give you the facts and the vocabulary the rest of the lab assumes you have.
What will you contribute?
- Define one specific AI use, policy, or experience.
- Gather evidence and listen to lived experience.
- Track your interviews and conversations.
- Use the governance rubric to notice patterns.
- Submit findings, disagreement, and a practical recommendation.
- Present the evidence to people who can respond.
You do not need to be an AI expert.
You can complete the Civic Lab without using generative AI. Curiosity, careful listening, evidence, judgment, and collaboration matter more than technical expertise.
What counts as a strong contribution?
- Its evidence can be traced to a source, observation, test, or conversation.
- It includes people who experience the issue differently.
- It separates what the group found from what the group thinks.
- It preserves tradeoffs, uncertainty, and meaningful disagreement.
- It asks who has power and who receives value.
- It offers a practical next step or a question the public must answer.
Evidence before invitation.
Contribute your documented evidence to enter the public demonstration cycle. A demonstration can be small and local—a classroom exchange, school event, neighborhood conversation, or online presentation. Over time, these contributions become a citywide record that students can present back to New York City.
Help shape the lab.
This is a working draft. The next version will be built from the questions, critiques, and ideas of students and educators who use it.