Day of AI Launches National “Students First Tour,” Bringing Student Perspectives on AI to Communities Across America

BOSTON, MA - Following this summer’s gathering of student leaders from all 50 states, Day of AI today announced the “Students First Tour,” a national initiative designed to ensure young people have a meaningful role in shaping how artificial intelligence is used in schools.

The tour builds on July’s AI Student Senate, held during America’s Youth AI Festival in Boston and Cambridge. 98 students spent three days debating and negotiating before convening in the world’s only full-size replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber at the Edward M. Kennedy (EMK) Institute for the U.S. Senate, where they voted 84-14 to approve the STUDENTS FIRST Act, a student-written framework for responsible AI use in K–12 education.

Day of AI is collaborating with the EMK Institute and MIT RAISE to build on the Student Senate experience. AASA, The School Superintendents Association, is helping bring the students’ work to education leaders nationwide, including distributing the STUDENTS FIRST Act to AASA’s network of more than 10,000 school leaders.

Over the coming school year, the Students First Tour will give the student leaders multiple ways to continue the work beyond this summer and bring new young people into the conversation. Highlights include:

• This winter, Day of AI will open applications for a national cohort of AI Ambassadors. The Ambassadors will take part in both virtual and in-person convenings and work together throughout 2027 and 2028, leading AI policy conversations in their own communities. The program will empower students throughout the United States to use their voice in AI policy creation and discussion. We will share more details about the application process soon. 
• Day of AI and the EMK Institute are releasing Community AI Student Senate implementation guides, designed to support both classroom-based and larger-scale Student Senate experiences. These materials - scheduled to be released on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3 - will help educators, schools, districts, and community organizations adapt the Student Senate model to their own settings, from individual classrooms to multi-school and community-wide initiatives. Students across the country will also be invited to submit proposed AI policies, either by adapting the STUDENTS FIRST Act or creating their own. Submissions will be featured in a digital, nationwide repository on the websites of Day of AI and the EMK Institute, and will also be available to view on-site at the EMK Institute in Boston.
• In-person engagements across the country will expand, with announcements about engagements and events in different states slated to be made on dayofai.org/student-ai-action over the coming weeks and months. The effort to share the Act is already underway, as Oregon’s Student Senators recently presented the Act to their State Senate’s Committee on Education, while Connecticut Student Senators shared the Act with their State Board of Education.

“The Student Senate showed what can happen when young people are given the opportunity to wrestle seriously with questions that will shape their lives,” said Jeffrey Riley, Day of AI Executive Director and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “The Students First Tour will help students take the next step by bringing those ideas home, engaging young people across the country, and continuing to learn together.”

“The Student Senate demonstrated the power of giving young people the space and tools to listen, deliberate, collaborate, and lead,” said Sarah Yezzi, Chief Education Officer at the EMK Institute. “We look forward to bringing these students back together and helping them continue that work in their own communities.”

Throughout this school year, the Students First Tour will create opportunities for student leaders to engage with educators, policymakers, and civic leaders across the country. The initiative puts students at the table in shaping how AI is used in their education, giving policymakers direct insight from the people most affected, while helping young people build skills in civic engagement, communication, research, deliberation, and leadership. 

About Day of AI: Day of AI is a leading nonprofit working to ensure students and educators have the knowledge and skills to understand and navigate artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically. Originally launched through the MIT RAISE initiative in 2021, Day of AI provides free AI literacy curriculum and professional learning resources for educators and school communities and works with partners across the United States and around the world.

For more information, visit dayofai.org/student-ai-action.