Ban ChatGPT on all school-provided devices in public secondary schools.

 

The purpose of this bill is to reduce the effects of increased usage of artificial intelligence on the developing minds

of students by blocking ChatGPT within all web browsers of school-provided devices in public secondary schools.

Consequently, this bill works to decrease the environmental issues ChatGPT is causing.

 

In 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT which gave way to a website students could use to access quick answers, easy research,

and less detectable plagiarized work. But, ChatGPT has brought along several issues. First, getting rid of ChatGPT in

Minnesota secondary schools is a step towards decreasing emissions of carbon dioxide since ChatGPT emits 8.4 tons of

carbon dioxide per year, with an environmental impact 22 times larger than Google’s. Additionally, in order for the

software to work, approximately 85,000 gallons of water are used per day. Along with environmental impacts, usage of

ChatGPT by secondary school students has been linked to a decrease in cognitive and critical thinking skills. For

example, a study at MIT comparing groups of students using ChatGPT to write essays with groups using only their brain

found that the group using only their brain had higher neural connectivity. This indicates that students who don’t use

ChatGPT process information and communicate faster. ChatGPT can also lead to students using inaccurate information and

plagiarism in their work, further harming the development of creativity and critical thinking in students. While ChatGPT

can supply students with research materials and resources, there are other AI sources that help students with less known

room for error and plagiarism. For example, Google Gemini provides sources along with its responses which can further

student’s research, unlike ChatGPT. Overall, blocking ChatGPT on school provided devices would be a step towards

reducing carbon emissions, rebuilding student’s critical thinking skills, and reducing cheating and inaccurate

information within public secondary schools.

 

 

ChatGPT: an artificial intelligence chatbot, owned by OpenAI, designed to have human-like conservations.

OpenAI: An artificial intelligence research company, owning ChatGPT, DALL-E, and GPT-4.

Google Gemini: A generative artificial intelligence model designed to process data formats, answer questions, and

generate resourceful responses.

School-Provided Devices: Technology like laptops and tablets given to students for temporary use for school related

purposes.

Secondary School: Any schooling following elementary or primary school, whether it’s labeled as middle school and high

school, or follows different names.

Critical Thinking Skills: Skills that allow people to analyze information, solve problems, and make informed decisions

Neural Connectivity: The network of physical and functional connections between neurons, essential to all brain

functions including complex thought.

 

Minnesota law mandates any school-issued device with internet access to have a system for blocking harmful websites,

just as the Children’s Internet Protection Act mandates public schools must have ways to block harmful technology on

school-provided devices, meaning almost all Minnesota schools have access to a software that filters websites. However,

for any school that lacks a filtering software system, the statewide sales tax on technology will be increased from

6.875% to 6.881% which would generate roughly ~$450,000. This would cover the price of software filtering systems for

the remaining schools, as the average software system costs $3.00 to 8.50$ per student, depending on the software

chosen. Schools under 500 students usually pay ~$600.

 

10% of funding would be withheld from any school’s technology funding if they fail to comply with the ban of ChatGPT on

all browsers of school-provided devices.

 

2026/2027 school year.