2023 AI + Education Symposium

Marc Ecko & Elizabeth (Betsey) Hun Schmidt give welcome address; Dale Allsopp facilitates Khanmigo Demo; Mike Yates presents on Playlab.ai

On September 30th, 2023, MeshEd convened an AI + Education Symposium at Betaworks in Manhattan. The event, attended by over 200 people, bridged the communication and information gaps among leading ed-tech developers and K12 educators, policymakers, and high school students. Together, we explored the potential opportunities and the risks of integrating generative AI in education in the 2023-2024 school year, with a focus on public middle and high school learners and their educators. We curated and showcased a variety of AI learning product demos, followed by student-led questions. Clusters of demos were followed by “fireside chat” discussions with edtech builders, policy leaders, and ethicists that highlighted common themes, risks, and opportunities for better AI product design and deployment.

The interactive nature of the Symposium, enriched by real-time polling and a collective afternoon reflection session, encouraged insightful discussions on the merits and risks of using generative AI to enhance teaching and learning. The diverse attendee list of students, educators, AI builders, and investors, policy experts, and ethicists enriched our conversations. The continuous engagement, from pre-event surveys to post-event polling, highlighted a concerted effort to harness collective insights for thoughtful integration of AI into educational systems.