SamTastic Weekly Tip: 9/22/25 - Consider an AI Warning Label
- Jim Mercer
- Sep 21
- 4 min read
This week’s tip: Consider an AI Warning Label
Artificial Intelligence is easy, quick and seemingly magical. It has become ubiquitous in schools and everyday life. Tech experts are nearly unanimous that AI can cause harm, however. Should AI use have a warning label, like cigarettes?
Schools and districts have tried to develop policies and enact rules to govern AI use. Is this effective? It might be helpful to hear a student’s point of view:
“A few weeks ago, my high school chemistry class sat through an “AI training.” We were told it would teach us how to use ChatGPT responsibly. We worked on worksheets with questions like, “When is it permissible to use ChatGPT on written homework?” and “How can AI support and not replace your thinking?” Another asked, “What are the risks of relying too heavily on ChatGPT?”
Most of us just used ChatGPT to finish the worksheet. Then we moved on to other things.
Schools have rushed to regulate AI based on a hopeful fiction: that students are curious, self-directed learners who’ll use technology responsibly if given the right guardrails. But most students don’t use AI to brainstorm or refine ideas — they use it to get assignments done faster. And school policies, built on optimism rather than observation, have done little to stop it.” William Liang, high school student and education journalist, San Jose, California.
You will find lots of articles suggesting ways teachers can effectively use AI. Little is shared on the risk and danger. Warnings about AI use come from people who pioneered the AI field: Google’s Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI”, Stephen Hawking, the late theoretical physicist and Tristan Harris, leading tech ethicist. AI use warnings include:
AI can act in ways that are sometimes uncontrollable and not understood. Hinton and Hawking both warn AI could endanger human life.
AI can create video deep fakes, present false information as fact, perpetuate biases and promote discrimination. Documented cases of AI chat-bots encouraging children to engage in self-harm are more than alarming.
AI can use your personal information and content without permission. AI use of copyrighted information on the internet is rampant.
AI in schools can lead to student cheating and lack of cognition.
So, what do you do as an educational leader? I don’t know. AI is everywhere and bans and guardrails are ineffective so far.
I think I would start by adding a warning label every time AI is promoted, mentioned or used in school, just like the FDA did with cigarettes in 1965:
The FDA’s cigarette warning label led to societal change at a time when the common thinking was that cigarette use could not be controlled. It had an impact and, eventually, led to tobacco companies being held legally/financially accountable for the harm their products caused.
I think the same is possible when dealing with Artificial Intelligence, something we think we cannot control. Keep in mind, when the iPhone was created in 2007, we thought we could not control cell phone use in schools. It took nearly two decades, but cell phone use is now successfully restricted during instructional time in many schools.
I would engage students, teachers and parents in conversation about Artificial Intelligence use risks and how to decide when to use AI. I would follow this with assessment of whether use is helpful or harmful in student learning. I would not ban use. I would not promote its use, either.
Finally, I thought it would be interesting to ask ChatGPT to create an Artificial Intelligence warning label, similar to what is found on cigarette packages.
Not bad, but did you notice ChatGPT promotes AI use at the end of the warning and suggests safe use is on you? Tech companies have avoided enactment of laws that would hold them accountable for AI use that causes harm…just like cigarette companies did for years.
Note: 74% of the seats have been taken for the 19th Annual National SAM Conference. Use this link to register:: https://registration.samprocess.com/ You will also find a registration link at www.SamProcess.com
19th Annual National SAM Conference
Registration link: https://registration.samprocess.com/
A few things to consider when planning to attend:
Ø The conference is January 15-18. 2026. Ø To be eligible to attend, you must be a SAM team member doing the process with efficacy, NSIP staff, Board member or presenter. Ø The conference will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Marriott Harbor Beach Resort
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Keynote Speakers · Will Parker, Principals Matter: Living your Best Life as an Educator · Will Bowen, You Can’t Complain Your Way to Success · Tracie Swilley, The PrinciPAL Effect: Setting the Vibe, Energy, and Excellence Every Day · John Antonetti, Personal Response: Am I safe to share my thinking? · William Martinez, Signing the Song: The Power of Belonging
Pre-Conference All-Day Workshop Presenters · Jim Masters, Beyond Why and What – Getting to How School Leaders Make a Difference · Ken Williams, Better Teachers, Better Results: Where Students Learn Because Of US · Willow Sweeney, Top 20 Moves for Building Effective Staff and Student Relationships · Executive Speaking Coaching Seminar, New York Speech Coaching |
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