The dawn of artificial intelligence began decades ago, but for many educators, it feels like AI arrived overnight. Tools like ChatGPT have exploded into daily life, raising big questions about how we teach, learn, and connect in this new landscape.

In K–12 education, AI holds great promise, but also significant risk. Will it enrich instruction and make room for deeper human connection? Or will it push classrooms toward disconnection and standardization, all while reinforcing bias in the process?

These were the kinds of questions Remake Learning’s AI Pulse Check explored this spring. Facilitated by AI ethics consultant Jordan Mroziak, the Pulse Check brought together educators, technologists, nonprofits, and researchers from across the region.

“We’re very much in the wild, wild West of trying to understand this thing,” said Mroziak. “And I mean that with all the positive and negative implications.”

Creating a Space for Collaboration

Participants in the Pulse Check included school districts like Montour, Shaler Area, South Fayette, and Hampton; partners such as CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center, BirdBrain Technologies, and the AIU; and community organizations including Assemble, Gwen’s Girls, and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

The goal wasn’t to find one “right” way to use AI in schools. Instead, the group worked toward shared understanding, exchanging ideas, surfacing needs, and imagining next steps.

“We’re not selling. We’re building,” said Mroziak. “And no one organization is going to lead or solve this alone.”

Importantly, the group acknowledged that many voices were missing—especially students, parents, libraries, and third-space organizations. Inclusion and access will be key in future phases of the work.

Where We Are Now

The group began with a shared desire: to use AI in service of human-centered teaching and learning. Already, districts and organizations in the region are experimenting in thoughtful ways:

• Students are learning languages with AI-generated text and having immersive dialogues with historical figures.
• The Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s AI Fellowship has brought together 20 educators to collaboratively explore classroom integration.
• Woodland Hills School District is developing AI curricula with researchers from the University of Florida.
• Upper St. Clair and South Fayette are embedding AI and data science into STEAM pathways and piloting K–12 models.
• Out-of-school programs like Assemble and the Children’s Museum are exploring AI through creativity, play, and multigenerational learning.

These efforts are rigorous, imaginative, and equity-focused. But they also raise tough questions: What roles will educators play in AI-enhanced classrooms? How do we safeguard against bias, ensure student agency, and define academic integrity in an AI world?

“There’s a tension to this conversation, because there can certainly be a rush — when we talk about technology and education — to purchase, to adopt, to use,” Mroziak noted. “But this technology is and works differently, and has different implications than anything we’ve encountered before. So a lot of the old frameworks certainly need to be reconsidered. AI requires a different set of literacies and fluencies that are still being developed.”

Looking Ahead: Prototypes and Possibilities

During the Pulse Check, participants co-designed a set of tangible, near-term ideas that could be piloted in the region. Each concept is rooted in collaboration, inclusion, and practical support:

BRIDGE (Building Responsible & Inclusive District Guidelines for Educators): Develop cross-district policy networks and professional development to help schools move from confusion to collaboration around AI.

AI FACTS (Families and Community Tools and Systems): Create hubs and resources to inform families about AI, build shared understanding, and promote healthy digital habits.

Tales from the Edge of AI – Pioneer Report: Partner with universities and tech firms to produce teacher-friendly briefings on emerging AI developments and their ethical implications.

AI Empowered Youth: Support student-led exploration of AI in afterschool and informal learning settings, with creativity and critical thinking at the center.

Open-Source Curriculum & Teacher Lessons: Use frameworks like AI4K12 to build collaborative, shareable content that educators across the region can adapt and apply.

These ideas are starting points, not prescriptions—tools to catalyze deeper, community-rooted exploration.

Roles for Remake Learning

Looking ahead, participants suggested several roles the Remake Learning network could play in this work: convening stakeholders, informing policy, facilitating professional learning, supporting research, and developing resources that center students and educators alike.

As a forthcoming white paper created by the Pulse Check process states: “AI in education is not just a technical challenge, but a deeply human, ethical, and systemic one.”

If used wisely, AI can help create more responsive, personalized, and equitable learning environments. But as Mroziak reminds us, its role must be intentional.

“We do not want to outsource human interaction.”

Authored by:

Melissa Rayworth

Melissa Rayworth has spent two decades writing about the building blocks of modern life — how we design our homes, raise our children and care for elderly family members, how we interact with pop culture in our marketing-saturated society, and how our culture tackles (and avoids) issues of social justice and the environment.