Key facts
- Florida is implementing new rules for AI use in schools, focusing on student data privacy and content appropriateness.
- AI tools for students in fifth grade and younger require additional review by school districts.
- AI programs must supplement teachers' professional judgment, not replace it.
- Schools must ensure AI tools are accurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, and comply with Florida teaching standards.
- AI deployment must avoid undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring, or psychological profiling of students.
- Schools must avoid AI tools that sell, monetize, profile, or commercially exploit student data.
Florida is enacting new regulations governing the use of artificial intelligence in its public schools, with a particular focus on safeguarding younger students and ensuring the technology supplements rather than replaces educators' professional judgment. Governor Ron DeSantis, a vocal critic of AI and Big Tech, has pushed for these guardrails amid broader concerns about the burgeoning industry's potential harms.
The new rules, adopted by the Florida Department of Education, require additional review for AI tools used by students in fifth grade and younger to ensure content suitability. Schools are mandated to use AI only as a supplement to lessons, not as a replacement for teachers. Furthermore, any AI programs deployed must be accurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, and adhere to Florida's teaching standards. The state also prohibits AI tools that subject students to undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring, or psychological profiling.
Additional provisions include training for teachers and administrators on AI risks and limitations, monitoring student plagiarism, and avoiding AI tools that exploit student data for commercial purposes. The Department of Education also introduced measures requiring schools to report instances of unexpected AI behavior or unauthorized data access to the state. For AI tools employing autonomous or agentic capabilities, direct adult supervision, activity logging, and the ability for school staff to disable the tool without vendor intervention are mandated.
Separately, Florida's Board of Education considered similar AI guidelines for the state's 28-school college system on the same day. DeSantis has previously stated that opposing AI regulations is a "losing position" for Republicans, contrasting with President Donald Trump's stance against imposing guardrails on the technology.