Senators join education tech leaders in looking for answers on how to bring AI into K-12 education

The Senate on Tuesday invited leaders in the educational technology field to help find answers on how to integrate artificial intelligence in K-12 education. 

“Artificial intelligence is changing the world our kids are growing up in, and whether you like it or not, AI is going to be part of their education, their careers and their daily lives. The question isn’t whether it is coming; AI is here," said Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, chairman of the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Education and the American Family, which held the hearing.

Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, the subcommittee's top Democrat, said 84% of students already used AI, while 85% of teachers are using it. 

The statistics are backed by research from 2025 and 2026 by institutions such as Microsoft and Pew Research Center.

Erin Mote, CEO of InnovateEDU and EDSAFE AI Alliance, testified that according to Stanford’s SCALE initiative, there are no high-quality causal studies to date on long-term effects of AI. 

She also cited concerns with students offloading their thinking and giving up their independent reasoning to AI tools in a term called “cognitive surrender,” which professors at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Executive Education program researched. 

Mote advocated for stricter safety controls in the government for high-consumer AI tools while using “lower-friction” standards for purpose-built educational technology, instead of a blanket mandate which would widen digital inequalities.

“Congress can prevent this by adopting a waterfall approach to federal safety frameworks,” she said, and called on Congress to fully staff the Eduction Department's Office of Education Technology.

Testimony from Delaware Education Secretary Cynthia Marten focused on students, citing a student testimony that said AI should be “a collaborator and tool, not something to do all the work for us.” 

She also said there was a responsibility to prepare students for the world they were entering.

Joshua Jones, CEO of QuantHub, in Birmingham, Alabama, also highlighted how workplaces were increasingly demanding AI literacy. 

He said that his company sought to build AI and data literacy into the school curriculum. Through the Alabama Data Scholars program, his company has also placed high school students in paid AI and data-related internships. 

Jones also said that QuantHub used “human-in-the loop” AI systems, where instructional designers, experts and faculty oversee the use of AI agents to generate content efficiently. Jones also stressed that curricula needed to be adaptable to changing technologies. 

“It is imperative that standards and curriculum accelerate to move at the speed of the technology,” Jones said. 

During the hearing, parent concerns with AI tools were also raised. 

Mote said parents were concerned about their children’s data being exploited when using AI tools. 

She pointed to the National Parents Union, which released questions as part of its AI policy framework for parents to ask at parent-teacher conferences on AI policies, as an example of how parents could enter the discussion.

“As this technology spreads at lightning speed, families are being left out of the decisions that shape what their children learn,” Keri Rodrigues, National Parents Union President, told Just the News. 

However, he also said that NPU's framework "changes that math. Parents and families across the country have been asking hard questions and pushing superintendents, governors and even members of Congress to embrace the promise of this technology while making sure our kids stay safe,” he said.

In September 2025, Blunt Rochester and Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted, along with Senate HELP Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy sponsored the RAISE Act, supporting states in developing academic standards for AI. 

In Tuesday's hearing, Marten said that Congress could continue to suggest guidelines and support for research so that states could make informed decisions without replacing their autonomy.