Elizabeth Laird

To better understand public sentiment and concerns around the government’s collection, sharing, and consolidation of personal data, the Center for Democracy & Technology conducted nationally representative polling of U.S. adults. CDT found that concern is consistent and high and that people across the United States want to hold government agencies accountable for protecting the privacy of their personal data. Specifically: 

Protecting the privacy and security of personal data held by the government: 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has continued to alter the educational experiences of teachers, students, and parents during the 2024-25 school year. The frequency and variety of AI uses continues to grow; at the same time, the increased use of AI in educational settings is correlated with heightened risks to students. The following section details the current status of AI use in schools along with four emerging risks associated with this technology, all of which increase the more that a school uses AI:

Despite the emergence of new frameworks, guidance, and recommendations to support the overall responsible use of artificial intelligence by public agencies, there is a dearth of guidance on how to decide whether AI should be used in the first place, including how to compare it to other solutions and how to document and communicate that decision-making process to the public. This brief seeks to address this gap by proposing a four-step framework that public administrators can use to help them determine whether to proceed with an AI system for a particular use case: