2023-08-15 04:45:49
All about Artificial Intelligence
The school board of Mason City, Iowa (USA) is receiving a lot of criticism for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate lists of potentially bannable books from the district’s libraries before the next school year.
According to Engadgetthis action is seen as censorship and is part of the AI misuse group – such as use for trust scams and to generate spam content.
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Change in Law
Senate File 496 (SF 496) was approved and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds in May, who enacted sweeping changes to the state’s educational curriculum. Among the changes is a new limitation on which books can be made available in school libraries and classrooms, with restrictions based on “age-appropriate” content and no “descriptions or visual representations of a sexual act,” according to the Code from Iowa 702.17.
“Our classroom and school libraries have vast collections consisting of purchased, donated and found texts,” Bridgette Exman, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Mason City Community School District, said in a statement. “It is simply not feasible to read all the books and filter through these new requirements.”
As a “solution”, the Mason City School District decided to apply the use of AI to review texts and publications, based on the conditions imposed by the legislation. The district points out that a “master list” compiled from “various sources” based on reports of sexual content. The books are being scanned by “AI software” that tells state censors whether or not there is actually sexual representation in the book.
List of books banned by AI
“Killing Mr. Griffin.” by Lois Duncan“Sold” by Patricia McCormick“A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas“Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany D. Jackson“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult“The Handmaid’s Tale”, by Margaret Atwood“Beloved”, by Toni Morrison“The Search for Alaska”, by John Green“The Kite Runner”, by Khaled Hosseini“Crank”, by Ellen Hopkins“The 13 Reasons Why”, by Jay Asher “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie“An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker“Feed” by MT Anderson“Friday Night Lights” by Buzz Bissinger“ Gossip Girl” by Cecily von Ziegesar“I Know Why the Bird in the Cage Sings” by Maya Angelou
“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect children from books,” Exman told the PopSci. “At the same time, we have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”
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