Massachusetts parents sue school district over child's AI usage

A very complicated question in classrooms so far -- how does artificial intelligence have to be handled in learning?

One Hingham High School student has brought that question front and center in Massachusetts. It's an interesting case because nowadays it’s almost harder not to use artificial intelligence.

If you do a Google search, it’s the first thing that comes up.

So imagine being a high school student researching a project online – it’s totally different than even just a few years ago.

The Hingham High School student and another classmate were writing a history paper last year when they used AI for some of their research notes – not to write the paper itself.

A teacher discovered the AI usage, and the students were given a detention, kept off the National Honor Society, and given a zero on that portion of the project.

But it was such a large portion of their grade that this normally straight A student got a C+ for the class.

He’s now a senior applying to colleges, and his parents are concerned this will affect where he gets accepted.

At Tuesday's hearing the 17-year-old student, who NBC10 Boston is not naming due to his age, spoke about his experience, saying that the only time AI use was explicitly discussed was in his AP ELA class. In that case, he says AI use was allowed for general assignments, though on the exam essays would be written by hand, so AI wouldn't be an option.

Acting district Superintendent Kathryn Roberts and the social studies teacher who gave the grade were also on the stand. Roberts explained that while there was no explicit mention of AI usage in the handbook at the time, students are given guidelines on AI in the ELA classes which is expected to apply in other classes. But the student pushed back, saying that wasn't clear and that his social studies teacher said they could use any resource to brainstorm project ideas.

The judge will take a day's worth of testimony and legal arguments to decide whether the court should step in to reverse the discipline.

The family believes the punishment is too harsh for using technology that is used every day now, the implications of which haven’t been fully fleshed out even beyond high school.

And they argue that there were no AI rules in the school handbook for their son to follow.

“We should be embracing artificial intelligence, developing an appropriate curriculum and integration with that in our schools, and in this case this young man is caught in the middle of that," said attorney Peter Farrell, who is representing the family.

Hingham Public Schools declined comment, but since the incident, have released updated guidance on AI use.

“His punishment for this situation has been extreme and ongoing and it is now interfering with his applications to college, which they promised us when we discussed it back in December that it wouldn’t do, so we had to get a lawyer involved because they were not being transparent, they were dragging their feet, I think trying to get to the summer so we would drop it and not think about it," said Jennifer Harris, the mother of the Hingham High student.

The family's attorney noted that the student was able to apply for the National Honor Society again and was admitted last week, so that part of their complaint has been resolved.