We Don’t Have to Choose Between Ethical AI and Innovative AI

This article was authored by Reshma Saujani for Time.

We keep hearing about how AI is going to steal women’s jobs, proliferate racial bias, make the rich richer and the poor poorer. 

And if we focus solely on that fear, it very well might. 

As the founder of Girls Who Code, I know as well as anyone the risks technology poses to the most vulnerable among us. But I’ve also seen how, when we’re distracted by doomsday, we miss incredible opportunities to help those same communities.

That’s why I believe the next generation of AI will close inequality gaps—if we stop fixating on how it will widen them. 

I know it because we’re already seeing it. Take education: After ChatGPT entered the zeitgeist in late 2022, many schools rushed to ban it to prevent cheating. Now, some are walking back that decision. As New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks, who oversees the country’s largest school system, put it: “the knee-jerk fear and risk overlooked the potential of generative AI to support students and teachers.”

And that potential is massive. Already, AI tutors are helping students who might otherwise be unable to afford one-on-one support. Tools like Avatar Buddy, which is designed with input from low-income students, are helping them boost their math grades, learn geometry, and understand Shakespeare. Khan Academy is testing an AI chatbot tutor, Khanmigo, that supports student learning with open-ended questions. 

Is there still reason to worry that students could misuse ChatGPT to cheat? Of course. But when students stand to gain so much, the solution is to teach them to use AI responsibly—not back away from it entirely.

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