Core Principles for AI/Emerging Technology Use

iCivics was founded on a simple but enduring belief: democracy is not inherited; it must be learned, practiced, and renewed by each generation. We have reached an entirely new era with artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies reshaping how young people learn, access information, and engage with one another, and how our democracy and economy function. We are navigating this new environment with care and intention.  

We share the concerns of parents, educators, policymakers, and others who want to ensure these technologies do not harm young people or adversely affect their learning and development. 

At this transformative moment, iCivics has a responsibility to ensure we maintain focus on our mission of inspiring a passion for civic learning so young people can shape the world around them and believe in our country’s future. We will remain grounded in our core values of ensuring student safety and accessibility; maintaining trust with, and empowering, educators; delivering high-quality instructional resources; and prioritizing nonpartisanship and pluralism.

These values guide how iCivics is exploring and leveraging emerging technology to advance our mission. Our experience in this area over the last several years has led us to develop a set of parameters for ethical use of emerging technology, including AI, to remain aligned with these values:

• Human connections between students, educators, and communities to advance civic learning and participation are essential.
• The educator’s role in managing the learning environment, and mediating the use of technology within it, is critical.
• Educators are, and will continue to be, involved in the development, refinement, and distribution of all tools and resources we create that leverage emerging technology.
• Any use of emerging technology in our organization will be mediated by a human, including through quality control protocols focused on ensuring not just accuracy, but also authenticity and creativity.
• Our partners in developing resources, solutions, and other approaches leveraging emerging technology must have explicitly stated commitments to ethical use of these technologies.
• We will work with our Independent Review Council of expert educators, researchers, and civic leaders on an ongoing basis to revisit and revise, where necessary, our approach to engaging with emerging technology in the development of iCivics products and resources.

Our commitment: We endeavor to use AI and emerging technology to strengthen iCivics’ impact, and not at the expense of the students, educators, and partners whom we are dedicated to serving.