Google faces Senate grilling over education AI as fears over kids mental health mount

Google is facing a bipartisan Senate grilling over its aggressive push to put artificial intelligence in American classrooms amid mounting concerns that the technology could harm students’ academic performance and mental health.Sens.Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter Wednesday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding answers about what the search giant knows about the potential risks its AI products pose to children, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.The two lawmakers wrote in the letter that they harbored “grave concern” that Google’s “aggressive push of AI products to children in schools is threatening the academic success and overall wellbeing of an entire generation.”Blumenthal and Hawley demanded to know the extent of Google’s knowledge about those potential harms and why the company has made AI integration the default on educational devices.In one of their most pointed demands, the senators asked whether Google has identified instances in which its classroom AI tools “encouraged a minor to engage in harmful behavior, emotional dependence, or failed to detect signs of suicidal or self-harm ideation.”The lawmakers also pressed Google to explain what safeguards it has implemented to prevent chatbots from engaging in inappropriate emotional exchanges with children, citing the case of a Maryland teenager who was hospitalized after developing an intense dependence on the company’s AI.They demanded an accounting of Google’s promotional efforts to expand AI adoption in schools, including how much the company has spent on such programs.“Google is forcing their AI products into classrooms across America, and children are paying the price,” Blumenthal and Hawley wrote in the missive, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.The inquiry follows a bombshell Sept.

30 investigation by the Journal that detailed how Google’s AI tools have fueled academic and emotional dependence among students, raising questi...