Insight: Navigating AI Together – An Update on Our Journey

By Jonathan Briggs, Director of Strategy, Technology & Innovation 

Two months ago, we shared how our community was engaging with questions about AI in education. Here’s where that work has taken us.

The EPS AI Approach we drafted last fall is now live in Student Handbooks, and classroom implementation is underway. What started as faculty workgroups exploring possibilities has become concrete: many course syllabi now include AI policies aligned to our approach, and we’re seeing what works and what needs refinement. The AI Approach will continue to be reviewed and updated every summer and December.

December also brought a cross section of the school to Houston for the NAIS AI Symposium. While there, we discovered EPS is among a small group of schools already deep into this work. More importantly, the national conversation has shifted—less abstract worry about whether AI belongs in schools to a more practical focus on how to implement it responsibly. Schools are moving from “should we?” to “how do we?”

Our Colleague.AI partnership exemplifies this shift from theory to practice. Eight students are currently interning there, seeing how their start-up takes advantage of AI and build tools for schools using AI. They are also hosting their second AI Ethics seminar. UW Bothell has approached us about research partnerships spanning environmental science, biotech, and public policy. These experiences allow our students to apply the skills and knowledge that they get in the classroom to current challenges in those domains.

In spring, we will once again be asking parents/guardians to share their thinking as we continue to explore how AI is impacting the world. These conversations will be targeted discussions about particular domains where these tools intersect with learning. By narrowing our focus, we intend for these conversations to move to concrete, actionable steps EPS can consider while the sum of all of these conversations continues to answer the more abstract question of how does AI impact education and what we are able to do. We look forward to your expertise and perspective.

The pace of change hasn’t slowed. Our community’s willingness to engage thoughtfully—students, employees, parents/guardians, trustees—continues to guide us even when the destination remains unknowable. Thank you!