By MIT Open Learning

This spring, thousands of students around the world are participating in Day of AI: a curriculum of lessons and hands-on activities designed to teach kids of all ages and backgrounds the basics and responsible use of artificial intelligence, designed by researchers at MIT. On May 18, MIT RAISE is hosting a global Day of AI celebration featuring a flagship local event: a human rights and data policy-focused event at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate.

Some 75 students from the Warren Prescott Middle School and 40 students from New Mission High School will gather in the Senate Chamber to hear from MIT President Sally Kornbluth, Yo Deshpande, Technologist for the Public Realm from the Boston Mayor’s Office, Michael Lawrence Evans, Program Director at Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, and Adam L’Italien, Liberty Mutual Chief Innovation Officer on the growing importance of AI literacy in today’s world and future careers, with a particular focus on the ethical and policy implications of the increasingly complex technology landscape. Then, former US OSTP chief of staff Marc Aidinoff will lead the students in a discussion about human rights and AI, followed by breakout groups for the middle and high schoolers on the Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights and the SMART Act. Cynthia Breazeal, Dean for Digital Learning at MIT Open Learning, head of the Personal Robots group at the MIT Media Lab, and Director of MIT RAISE, will offer closing remarks.

“We’re thrilled to sponsor and participate in this year’s Day of AI,” says Liberty Mutual Chief Innovation Officer Adam L’Italien. “There is no doubt that this rapidly evolving technology will shape the future in ways that we don’t fully understand yet. We want to help deepen AI knowledge in the student community, our next generation of innovators, and empower them to have a positive impact on the world around us.” Liberty Mutual is a founding sponsor of Day of AI and is dedicated to supporting youth STEM education and career programs for students.
Down the road in Roxbury, the Dearborn STEM Academy is hosting a flagship Day of AI event in collaboration with Amazon Future Engineer. Following remarks by Cynthia Breazeal, Rohit Prasad (MIT ‘08), Senior Vice President and Head Scientist for Alexa at Amazon, and Victor Reinoso (MIT ‘97), Global Director of Amazon Future Engineer, students will participate in the hands-on App Inventor activity as part of Day of AI’s Alexa lesson.

Over 6,000 K-12 educators from all 50 states and 100+ countries have registered to access the Day of AI curriculum. Lessons and activities include What is AI?, ChatGPT in School, Teachable Machines, AI and Social Media, Data Science and Me, and more. There are also regionally specific adaptations of the effort: the Day of AI in Australia is seeing major adoption, with 400+ classrooms registered. The Australian team is also offering students additional materials on AI Ethics and Machine Learning with the help of Sydney-based University of New South Wales, and the national science and research institute (CSIRO).

“In our second year of running Day of AI, we’ve seen double the number of registrations from educators around the world who want to teach this curriculum to their students,” says Prof. Breazeal. “And it’s not surprising — it’s been a year of extraordinary advancements in AI, and with that comes necessary conversations and concerns about who and what this technology is for. With our Day of AI events, we want to celebrate the teachers and students who are putting in the work to make sure that AI is for everyone.”

About MIT RAISE
Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) is an initiative from MIT to provide free AI literacy resources, activities, and opportunities to people of all ages around the world. A collaboration between the MIT Media Lab, the Schwarzman College of Computing, and MIT Open Learning, RAISE’s research and impact mission is to advance equity in learning, education and computational action to rethink and innovate how to holistically and equitably prepare diverse K-12 students, an inclusive workforce, and lifelong learners to be successful, responsible, and engaged in an increasingly AI-powered society.