BOISE, Idaho – The Boise School District is integrating AI tools like School AI, Khanmigo and Diffit into the classroom to enhance learning and prepare students for their future careers.

• The district emphasizes rigor and ethical use and encourages both students and teachers to use school-recommended technologies as instructional aids.
• Chief Technology Officer Will Goodman stresses that students must have knowledge of AI as it becomes increasingly important in higher education and the job market.

(The following is a transcript of the entire broadcast.)

Have you ever wondered: Who was George Washington’s best friend?

Well, according to an AI program called School AI, his best friend was… “Alexander Hamilton!”

“So we take all of our knowledge about that person – their writings, their history – and feed it into an AI, and then allow students to interact with that AI,” says Will Goodman, chief technology officer for the Boise School District.

This is just one of several AI tools that the Boise School District is promoting in the classroom. Other platforms include Khanmigo, Diffit and Magic School.

“It’s a great tool that we can use for a lot of different things,” Goodman said, adding that it’s important that students be able to use AI tools competently.

“We want to make sure that when our students leave the Boise School District, they are prepared for college and careers – that they can enter the workforce or the university system and they are ready,” says Goodman. “We’re seeing both in some of the major university systems and in the workplace that they want future workers who can use AI.”

Teachers also have access to AI tools to create lesson plans, IEPs, quizzes, tests, and more.

“We recommend that they always check the data for accuracy and not rely on it. The same goes for our students. When our students use AI, they need to check its accuracy because it will make mistakes and give incorrect information,” says Goodman.

In addition to monitoring accuracy, the district is working on ways to track whether the technologies are being used ethically by staff and students.

“We have policies on plagiarism, cheating and academic dishonesty,” says Goodman.

But instead of banning AI, the school continues to promote its ethical use as a means to help children learn and grow.

“AI is likely here to stay. It is the fastest-adopted technology we have seen so far, and most companies have integrated it strongly and quickly,” says Goodman. “We want to make sure our students are as prepared as possible to enter the workforce and are ready for the future,”