Arizona student leaders prepare to pass AI policy that could be utilized in Arizona schools

Two Mountain Ridge High School students from Glendale will represent Arizona in Boston this month at the 2026 Youth AI Leadership & Innovation Fellowship, where students from across the country are expected to adopt a national artificial intelligence policy.

The program, hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, aims to have students develop new ways to navigate the changing world of AI in the classroom. The July 17-19 program will focus on ethical technology use and teaching practices.

Two students from each state will serve as “senators” and vote on a policy that could be implemented in participating schools through a democratic process. The policy will then be shared with more than 10,000 AASA school leaders, who can choose to implement it in their schools.

Who’s representing Arizona in the AI policy program?

Arizona’s representatives are Shamitha Doki and Nandana Warrier of Deer Valley Unified School District.

Warrier said she plans to introduce a policy aimed at making sure AI programs are useful for specific classrooms.

“I am targeting the stakeholder of teachers. So, I believe that teachers should be able to lead pilot programs so that they can test the AI tools before implementing them in the school so that they know if it’s truly going to be beneficial instead of it wasting time and resources,” she said.

Doki is working on a policy that would allow students to use AI for starting points or outlines, but not for graded work. She said the policy would also ensure students use the same resources.

Doki said her goal is to change the way AI is taught in schools while also helping shape the future of the technology.

“AI is just so ever-growing and it’s in everything we do. So, it’s important to be able to adapt with that and that means you need to be able to adapt to any situation and we want to make sure we can safely use AI and implement it into our school education system,” she said.

Students learn about AI policy, networking at national event

The students will also be able to network with each other and leaders in the AI field, something Warrier said will help her in her future career.

“I really want to see beyond the education; beyond just school what impact AI has. Because through our AI festival, we’re getting to see how AI is used in art, how AI is used in writing, how it’s used in media, and it’s really just becoming a key aspect of life now,” she said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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