RESOLUTION
BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT COLLINS-BELLAMY, MAJORITY LEADER RUBBO, MAJORITY WHIP NORMAN, MINORITY LEADER BREEN, COUNCILMEMBERS, PINEDA-ISAAC, DIAZ AND HODGES:
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A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF YONKERS URGING THE YONKERS PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ADOPT AGE-APPROPRIATE RESTRICTIONS ON STUDENT USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS SO THAT YONKERS STUDENTS FIRST DEVELOP THE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THEY WILL NEED TO USE SUCH TECHNOLOGY WELL.
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WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Yonkers ("City Council") is committed to the healthy development, academic achievement, and long-term success of every child educated within the City of Yonkers; and
WHEREAS, the ability to think critically, to question, evaluate evidence, form independent judgments, and solve problems without reliance on an external tool is a foundational skill that research shows is best developed in early childhood, and which underlies not only a child's later capacity for informed citizenship, sound decision-making, and genuine understanding, but also the child's future ability to use powerful new technologies, including artificial intelligence, wisely and well; and
WHEREAS, elementary school children in the Yonkers Public Schools currently have access to artificial intelligence tools, including ChatGPT and similar generative AI chatbots, for use in academic research and schoolwork; and
WHEREAS, independent research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and a joint study by Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University, has found that reliance on generative AI chatbots measurably reduces critical thinking and independent analytical reasoning in their users, and that the more an individual relies on AI to complete a task, the less critical thinking that individual applies to it; and
WHEREAS, this same body of research finds that generative AI systems can produce responses that are confidently stated yet factually inc...
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