Hi all, it's your July edition of the PACES Newsletter. We have one big bit of news, and some upcoming events we would love to see you at!

First VSB trustee candidates announce support for Pause on AI

The Vancouver School Board Trustee elections will take place on October 17 this year, and AI will be a key issue in that election.

We have been talking with representatives from OneCity, Green Party of Vancouver and COPE, presenting the research that shows how AI is not helping students, and how a pause is the best thing for students' education.

This week COPE confirmed that they will support removing generative AI and chatbots from VSB classrooms. We welcome this move and are looking forward to hearing from other parties in the near future!

PACES Speaking at No AI Datacentre Rally, Sunday July 26

As many of you may be aware, in May and June there were two rallies against the AI datacentres planned for downtown Vancouver. The next one is on Sunday July 26, and we will (hopefully) be speaking at the end of the march, at City Hall!

There is a very clear overlap between AI datacentres wasting valuable resources and chatbots entering our classrooms. Both are being driving by speculation and hype, with little thought for what is best for people.

We hope to see many of you at the march! We are planning on helping to make it a kid-friendly event, so feel free to bring your kids. After the rally, we'll have a kids-friendly area with juice boxes and snacks. Come and meet other parents who want a pause on AI in schools. We will have PACES and Pause on AI signs so look out for us!

AI Data Centre Townhall

On August 8th we will be speaking at the AI Data Centre Town Hall hosted by SFU's Institute for the Humanities, in collaboration with No AI Vancouver.

We will be presenting what research shows about the effects of AI on students' learning and mental health.

New Posters

Thanks to everyone's kind donations, we were able to print another run of posters, this time with a new blue theme. More donations would help support future runs of posters, so if you have a spare $5 or $10 it would be very much appreciated.

Volunteering

We are always looking for more help! If you would like to donate some of your time, we are in particular looking for people who:

• can edit video or are familiar with Instagram

• have drawing or graphic design skills for poster-making

• are able to put up posters in their local area

• have connections with teacher unions

If that sounds like you, please reply to this email, or email us at [email protected]

Thank you!