TAMPA, Fla. — Teachers in Hillsborough County Schools are getting some high-tech help in the classroom, using artificial intelligence to cut done on their workload. 

What You Need To Know

 Hillsborough County Schools has been piloting the “Magic School” AI to cut down on teachers’ workload

 This AI will help teachers by doing thing like creating charts and lesson plans

 The AI is setup to be aligned with Florida teaching standards

Teachers are using “Magic School” AI to help them with all sorts of things—whether it’s taking information and turning into a chart for a presentation, or helping them think of questions to include in lesson plans.

Kelly Whitton teaches an AICE Sociology class at Wharton High School. She was one of the first teachers to start using “Magic School” during the district’s pilot program.

“So, ‘Magic School’ has a platform where you open it and there’re all kinds of teacher tools that you can choose from,” she said.

The pilot program was a success, and the school board approved the contract for “Magic School” in February. Now, 7000 Hillsborough County teachers are using it in their day-to-day lesson plans.

“It saves me so much time. Things that used to take me an hour could take 2-3 minutes now, so making a power point is something I haven’t done in many, many years because I don’t have time to do that, but for simple things the “Magic School” can do that for you and you can use it to review in class,” said Kelly.

Magic School helped create the worksheets students used in class on Monday, and district officials say while AI is a great timesaving tool for teachers, it will never replace them.

“We want to set the groundwork that nothing can replace human interaction, nothing can replace collaboration, nothing can replace critical thinking,” said Gary Brady, Chief Academic Officer. “So we really want it to be a tool for teachers because nothing can ever replace a strong teacher in the classroom.”

Kelly agrees, admitting she was skeptical at first, but now, after using AI for almost an entire school year, she says how it gives her more time to do what she truly loves, teaching.

District officials say with “Magic School”, they’re able to put in all the Florida teaching standards so all the feedback is in line with state standards.