Although a number of speakers testified to a variety of ways AI is already instrumental in education and education related fields, it was also clear from the panel's first discussion on the topic that school districts and higher education are largely grappling with AI on their own.
"All of our institutions are really just doing their own thing. So, everybody is doing a lot of wonderful work around this, but there's really no statewide alignment, no guiding principles," Leslie Sizemore with the Council on Postsecondary Education told lawmakers.
Jeff Gagne with the Southern Regional Education Board said one of its first recommendations is to create specialized guidance that takes into consideration the wide range of ways AI can be used.
"If you ask college students, they're all begging for specific guidance on what they can do with AI and what they cannot, what's considered cheating, et cetera. Their their needs are unique," he noted.
Even without statewide guidance, Kentucky schools are already making inroads.
Examples include AI research, allowing for better detection of cardiovascular disease, examination of fire scenes, and enhancing cybersecurity.
Legislators showed an interest in creating a consortium to get education stakeholders on the same page, a challenging task given the speed of change in AI.
Tuesday marked the Kentucky AI panel's first meeting since the passage of the GOP mega bill in Congress that had included a moratorium on state based AI regulation. That provision was struck from the final version.