---
title: "Making AI Safe in Schools"
date: "2026-02"
duration: "2 min 20 sec"
format: "Video interview"
host: "Mobicip"
source: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0rzUJV-i4"
canonical_url: "https://zoltner.com/speaking/transcripts/mobicip-3-making-ai-safe-in-schools.html"
speakers:
  - "John Zoltner, Guest"
  - "Anitha Swaminathan, Interviewer, Mobicip"
topics:
  - "AI and child safety"
  - "Education policy"
  - "Schools"
series: "Mobicip Safer Internet Day 2026 interview series, part 3 of 8"
---

# Making AI Safe in Schools

*Mobicip interview series for Safer Internet Day 2026 · Part 3 of 8*

> **How this transcript was made.** This transcript was produced automatically in October 2026. Speech-to-text software converted the recording’s audio to text, and an AI language model then added punctuation, divided the text into turns, and proposed who was speaking from the event description and the conversation itself. It has not been checked line by line against the recording, so it may contain mistakes: misheard words, wrong names or numbers, and lines credited to the wrong speaker. The summary and key points were drafted with AI assistance from the transcript. Square brackets mark an editor’s addition or an omission. The recording is the authoritative version.

## Summary

Anitha asks what parents, policymakers and educators can do so that AI in K-12 education supports children’s well-being and development instead of hindering it.

I describe the cat-and-mouse game of banning AI and trying to catch students using it, and argue that schools should want students to use AI for some parts of a task, so that they grow up able to use it productively.

## Key points

- Schools need clear policies for both students and educators about how AI may be used.
- Teachers should decide how students may use AI in their class, even assignment by assignment. For example, students might use AI to research and develop a list of possible topics, and maybe for final copy editing, but not to write the argument.
- AI has a place as long as it doesn’t replace a student’s ability to think and to express themselves.

## Transcript

The wording is as spoken, with punctuation and obvious errors corrected. See “How this transcript was made” above.

**[00:00:00] Anitha Swaminathan:** With the rapid integration of AI and K-12 education, what do you think parents, policymakers, and educators can do to ensure that AI does not hinder a child’s well-being and development, but rather enhances them?

**[00:00:24] John Zoltner:** Well, I think at school, it’s really important to have clear policies for both students and for educators about how AI is allowed to be used within the school. What I’ve seen a lot of times are these attempts to ban the use of AI and to catch students using AI. And it’s this cat and mouse game where some educators are using many different software in order to analyze the writing of students so that they can say, aha, I cut you using AI, you know, you flunk the course, when they should want students to use AI for some parts of a task so that the students grow up able to use AI productively. And it has a place, of course, as long as it’s not replacing their ability to think and to express themselves about whatever it is the assignment is. So I prefer to see schools giving, allowing teachers to make decisions about how students are allowed to use AI within their class and even on an assignment by assignment basis so that the teacher is able to say, you know, you can use AI to research and to develop a list of potential topics to write about and maybe to do final copy editing, but you can’t use it to write your argument.