Province introducing AI ‘guardrails’ for classrooms

The Manitoba government is developing a provincewide framework, “Guiding Principles on AI in Education,” to support high-quality teaching.

The framework was announced and discussed at Manitoba’s first Artificial Intelligence in Education Summit in Winnipeg on Friday morning. The summit was attended by more than 500 kindergarten to Grade 12 and post-secondary educators, school leaders, policymakers and industry partners from across the province.

The document will offer clear, teaching-focused guidance on how AI can enhance instruction, support student assessment throughout the learning process, and expand opportunities for student engagement and inclusion, the province said.

Safety, ethics and student well-being are foundational to the framework, particularly as AI tools become more accessible to students, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt told the Sun in an interview after the morning session.

“The safety and security of students in our classrooms is always going to be our No. 1 priority,” she said. “Responsible use of AI is a big theme of today’s event. We want to give kids the tools to use AI in an ethical way, in a responsible way, and ultimately in a way that benefits them and doesn’t hurt them.”

She added that while risks must be addressed, the province also sees significant opportunity in using AI to improve educational outcomes.

“The fact of the matter is, AI is here. AI is in our classrooms,” Schmidt said. “So, we need to protect students from the risks and teach them how to use it responsibly, but we also need to leverage what is really an exciting opportunity to improve outcomes here in Manitoba.”

Introducing the provincial framework is a welcome development, Brandon School Division Supt. Mathew Gustafson told the Sun in an interview after the summit.

“It’s about creating guardrails to keep students safe and making sure AI is used to enhance the learning experience, rather than just implementing a piece of software,” he said.

“For society, we’ve seen the perils of introducing technology without having policies and protections in place. We want to be mindful as we move forward, keeping people safe while still utilizing the power of the technology.”

Gustafson said the fast-changing nature of artificial intelligence makes creating fixed rules a challenge.

“AI is such a rapidly evolving field. What the tools look like today is completely different than what they were even three months ago,” he said.

Schmidt said the guiding principles will be developed through consultation with educators, school divisions, Indigenous partners and education stakeholders across the province, and the work will lead to clearer direction for school divisions on responsible AI use.

“Providing some directive to the sector is an important part of today’s discussion,” she said. “That’s why it was so important to bring everyone together — to hear their hopes, to hear their concerns — so we can come up with something that works for everybody and ultimately serves students.”

Schmidt said the summit was deliberately planned to reflect the full diversity of Manitoba’s education system, with participants attending from northern and southern Manitoba, urban centres such as Winnipeg and Brandon, rural communities, and First Nations and Métis communities.

“We took very much care in planning this event to make sure Manitoba was properly reflected,” she said. “That representation is really important as we think about how this work moves forward.”

Premier Wab Kinew told reporters the summit reflected confidence in Manitoba educators to help guide students through another major societal shift.

“Our society and economy are going to be changed in a huge way by artificial intelligence,” Kinew said. “The same people who’ve helped us navigate other changes are well-positioned to help us prepare for this technology change.”

The summit featured a keynote address by Sinead Bovell, a strategic foresight advisor and founder of the tech education company WAYE, who spoke on preparing education systems for an “AI-first world.”

Gustafson said Bovell compared AI’s potential impact on society to the introduction of electricity, adding AI will eventually become embedded in daily life, fundamentally changing how people work and learn.

Schmidt said Friday’s summit marks the beginning of an ongoing conversation.

“This is really just the start,” she said. “I’m grateful to every educator, administrator and leader who took the time to be here today. There’s an exciting future ahead for AI and education in Manitoba, and many more discussions to come.”

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