CHICAGO — More than half of school board candidates have signed a pledge calling for a three-year moratorium on the use of generative AI in Chicago Public Schools.

The moratorium, included in Illinois Families for Public Schools’ “Pledge to Protect Human-Centered Education,” also asks that the new 21-member elected school board limit screen time across all grades, prohibit the collection of biometric information and appoint a chief privacy officer. The nonprofit is an advocacy group focused on improving public schools in Illinois.

By Wednesday, 24 of the 42 school board candidates on the ballot had signed the pledge, including the 15 who were endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents the district’s more than 25,000 teachers and other school staff.

The pledge comes as school districts across the country wrestle with how to address the use of AI by students, teachers and in classrooms. Illinois Families for Public Schools wrote it over worries that new technology may harm student privacy and learning outcomes, author Charles Tocci said.

The pledge alleges that Google Gemini was planned for implementation in high school curricula this school year, but CPS said in a statement Wednesday that the “aspirational plan” was halted in May to “prioritize individual school readiness and educator training.” Gemini is the tech giant’s flagship AI model, acting as a chatbot that can respond to users’ questions or generate images.

The district has no current plans to provide broad access to Gemini, and the application is turned off on all student devices, CPS said in the statement.

Chicago wouldn’t be the first to restrict AI use or screen time. New York City plans to impose a temporary ban on AI for students in public schools through eighth grade. Classes resume next week. Los Angeles eliminated the use of district-issued devices through first grade, according to the school district.

“The idea that kids are gonna be falling behind if we deprive them of tech use, I think is misguided, generally, and it’s clear that other districts and other states are taking real action on this stuff, and our board needs to step up and do this as well,” Cassie Creswell, president of Illinois Families for Public Schools, said.

The nonprofit asked each school board candidate to sign the pledge, according to its website.

Elected board member Ellen Rosenfeld, who represents District 4B on the North Side, declined to sign the pledge. She said she supports some restrictions on AI use but was skeptical about the efficacy of a blanket ban, and questioned whether it is a well-thought-out policy.

“I think (the pledge) limited our opportunity to teach students how to responsibly use technology. We are charged with educating our future workforce, future generation and pretending that AI doesn’t exist, I think would be harmful,” said Rosenfeld, who is running unopposed.

AI concerns

Tocci, 47, is no stranger to having his family’s information leaked. The father of three CPS students — twin sixth-graders and one eighth-grader — said their information has been leaked on multiple occasions, once through a vendor affiliated with CPS.

That’s one of the reasons why the North Center dad is worried about AI use in classrooms. Tocci pointed to Amira Learning, an educational platform that collects students’ voice and biometric data to help them learn to read. Some CPS teachers have used Amira, according to the company’s website.

“It’s taking all of this data and it’s identifiable, it’s connected to the students specifically,” Tocci said. “It’s not possible to separate them out.”

Amira does not use biometric data or voices to identify students, according to its website.

Concerned about the impact AI may have on his children’s education, he wrote the pledge. Tocci’s work as an associate professor at Loyola University Chicago explores the connection between American schooling and democracy.

Many of An Chih Cheng’s students plan to teach in CPS, the associate professor at DePaul University’s College of Education said, adding that AI can have positive uses in the classroom. Two examples Cheng gave were using AI to create models that visually represent complex topics and using the technology to diagnose developmental disabilities, such as autism, in the classroom.

Still, Cheng recommends board members sign the petition. There’s not much concrete evidence that AI actually helps students learn, he said.

“I don’t think this is gonna be a positive thing if we don’t proceed with caution,” Cheng said. “I mean, essentially, there’s a lot of unknown, and kids should not be the testing ground for technologies.”

Screen time

The pledge doesn’t just cover AI use.

One of the core asks is that candidates support restrictions on screen time in district schools, including a total ban on one-to-one digital device use before third grade.

Creswell said that includes school-provided computers and iPads. Students in many Illinois districts complete schoolwork on laptops provided by their schools.

A law banning the use of cellphones in Illinois public and charter schools was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this year, and it goes into effect during the 2027-28 school year. Creswell said the conversation shouldn’t be just about cellphones; other devices, like computers, can also be distractions.

The issue is personal for her; her daughter is in 11th grade at Kenwood Academy High School in Hyde Park.

DePaul’s Cheng was also concerned about screen time for students. More studies have shown that screens are “not helpful,” and they do not meaningfully improve learning outcomes, he said.

“It does not mean that we remove a computer from the classroom,” Cheng said. “It (is) simply trying to ask us to be more careful about how we use all these.”

—Tribune reporter Kate Armanini contributed.

____

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.