Parents outraged over university plan to film preschool classrooms to train AI models

The University of Washington planned a controversial study that would have preschool teachers wear cameras, which would essentially capture everything they see, including the children present in classrooms. The footage would be used to train AI models.

“With your permission, your child’s lead teacher may wear a small teacher-worn camera that captures the teacher’s approximate first-person perspective, and/or we may place a fixed video camera in the classroom,” reads a document given to parents and seen by 404 Media. “These videos simply capture the normal interactions between teachers and children during regular classroom activities.”

According to the university, classrooms would only participate if parents gave permission for all children involved. As 404 Media reports, one parent who spoke with the publication understood the programme to be opt-out rather than opt-in.

Vague instructions

Parents said the document provided to them was vague and difficult to interpret. For example, the document said that footage would have been used to “develop and evaluate AI models for assessing classroom interaction quality,” including human reviewers watching and annotating the videos.

“AI tools will also analyze the same recordings to generate codes and justifications,” the document said.

However, researchers did not specify which AI models would be trained or which companies would process the data, only that “video data may be processed using cloud-based AI services.”

It was mentioned that researchers would blur faces and names “whenever possible” since the footage might be used in academic papers, for conferences, or shared with others “to support future early childhood education research.” However, the extent of that anonymisation, particularly for children whose parents did not provide consent, was not clearly explained.

“I am troubled by the idea of using my child’s likeness in unknown AI tools and how this could be abused,” one parent told 404 Media.

“I was particularly concerned about families’ ability to give informed consent,” she added. “As a native English speaker, the vague language in the handout left me with a slew of questions. Many families in our school are migrants and non-native English speakers, but forms were not provided in any of their native languages.”

The document also gave some parents the impression that participation worked as opt-out rather than opt-in, saying: “You may decline or withdraw your child from the research at any time. Your decision will not affect your child’s enrollment or standing in the program.”

University terminates the study

Following a less-than-warm reception of the study, the University of Washington pulled the plug on it. The section of the website describing the study was also taken down.

“Given the early responses from parents, we have terminated the study and are no longer seeking participation at any site,” a spokesperson told 404 Media. They also added that it’s “not unusual to terminate a study in the early stages as we receive feedback from community partners.”

A spokesperson for the university later clarified that the research was not, in fact, opt-out, and would have gone forward only if all parents agreed to it.

“Classroom participation was contingent upon receiving parental permission for all children,” he said. “If any parent did not provide permission, the classroom would have been excluded from the study.”

AI technology is becoming increasingly integrated into teaching processes across all education levels. The AI-driven edtech market is expected to hit $32.27 billion by 2030, with experts saying that delaying adoption may hurt students’ career prospects. But successful integration requires protecting privacy, especially when it comes to sensitive student data, which privacy advocates continuously warn about.

Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube.