Those who created the artificial intelligence-powered platform Gaggle market it as “the most comprehensive student safety solution on the market.” Yet, even if this is true, we know that the most “comprehensive” forms of AI still come with a gaggle of problems that threaten students’ rights and well-being.
Gaggle is just one of many machine learning-powered surveillance solutions that not only monitor students who give administrators reason for concern. This product monitors every student within the school every time the student is using a device retrofitted with Gaggle technology.
You might think of Gaggle as a hammer looking for a nail. If you or your student becomes that nail, you may quickly learn how fallible AI can be. If your student is accused of exhibiting “warning signs” of future wrongdoing or they are accused of actually breaking school rules, let us help. Turn to a team with a long history of fighting for students, not just to protect them now but also to protect their futures.
Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to speak with our team about how we help students in their times of need, including when they have been wrongfully accused of wrongdoing by AI platforms such as Gaggle.
Gaggle: Another AI-Powered Platform Promising Protection Through Surveillance
While many Americans still value their privacy, K-12 schools are increasingly showing that they believe safety—created through intrusive surveillance of students’ digital activities—takes precedence over privacy.
How do we know this? All we have to do is look at the descriptions of AI-enabled platforms such as Gaggle, which:
- “Operates 24/7”: When we read that Gaggle “operates 24/7,” we can infer that anytime a student uses a device activated with Gaggle, their activity is being monitored. This program is generally used on school-provided devices, and when students need to take their school-provided device home, they may not have a single digital moment that is truly private.
- Includes a tip line encouraging students to report one another: Gaggle promises to provide students a secure tip line they can use “without feeling as though they will get themselves or their peers in trouble.” Gaggle can go so far as to initiate a wellness check if its “experts” determine necessary, or it may instead notify its school district contact.
- Automatically “capturing” student activity that the Gaggle AI deems “concerning”: The Gaggle platform monitors all activity the student engages in while in a web browser and may flag “concerning student searches” for further investigation. Unlike its web filter, which simply blocks students from accessing forbidden websites, the Web Activity Monitoring feature goes a step further by reporting students’ behavior to those who oversee the platform (in many cases, administrators).
Whereas students of yesteryear had to deal with website-blocking technology, the personalized tracking and tagging of individual students pose an increased risk of rights violations.
If Gaggle Will Prevent Violence, Deter Cheating, and Potentially Save Lives, What’s the Concern?
The promise of these AI-facilitated “security” platforms like Gaggle is almost always the same: Keep students safer in this dangerous digital and physical world. It sounds great, but the reality falls far short of the promise, in part because:
- Artificial intelligence is, quite obviously, not a human: AI models that power platforms like Gaggle lack personal relationships with students, have a limited capacity to comprehend sarcasm and humor, and are devoid of the many other valuable aspects of being human. These shortcomings make AI an imperfect arbiter of students’ character and behavior.
- Gaggle’s “experts” have significant blind spots: Even when Gaggle incorporates humans into its operations, the limitations remain obvious. Whereas a third-party Gaggle “expert” has never met the students whose behaviors and tips they are evaluating, which is a significant disadvantage when assessing whether a student poses a threat, is in danger, or is potentially filing frivolous tips.
- Students may be embarrassed, violated, or even traumatized by the Gaggle protocols: One of Gaggle’s features is to take a screenshot of the student’s computer screen and send it to “Emergency Contacts.” This feature, along with the constant monitoring of the students’ web activity, poses a clear risk of the student being embarrassed or even traumatized.
- Students can be punished based on faulty information: Say a student conducts a Google search of terms they’re learning about during sexual education or recent history. Would searching for content that might be deemed “explicit,” whether it’s about intercourse or a particularly violent historical conflict, lead to that student being punished? We have seen far stranger circumstances unfold with our own eyes.
- The tipline may be susceptible to pranking and malicious behavior: How effective are Gaggle employees at detecting when one student files a malicious tip about a student they are feuding with, or considers filing a tip to be a humorous “prank?”
One thing that AI services like Gaggle cannot do is put the cat back in the bag once it is out. When a student has been subjected to a deeply embarrassing discussion about their search history or they are suspended based on information collected by Gaggle, the harm is already done.
The LLF National Law Firm Helps Students Caught in the Web of Surveillance AI
AI surveillance programs have become ubiquitous in education, and their rapid emergence has come with a slew of problems. While we hear about the potential positive impact that round-the-clock monitoring of students could have, we know for certain that these same AI-powered programs frequently harm students.
The LLF National Law Firm assists students who:
- Are baselessly accused of wrongdoing by artificial intelligence, whether or not the accusation leads to formal discipline
- Are formally disciplined based on information collected by artificial intelligence
- Are subjected to embarrassment, scolding, trauma, or other adverse outcomes because of the Gaggle platform
- Suffer in any other way because of the deployment of AI surveillance systems on their school-provided devices
Very few schools or districts consulted students or parents before dispatching AI to surveil the pupils. The student should not, therefore, have to suffer the consequences when AI gets it wrong.
Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online. We want to hear what you or your student has been through, and you deserve to hear about how our team can help.