Mayor Michelle Wu, Superintendent Skipper, Paul English Announce Major Public-Private Partnership Ensuring Boston is a Leader on AI Literacy for Students

Mayor Michelle Wu today joined Superintendent Mary Skipper and tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul English to announce a new public-private partnership between government, academia, and private industry to support Boston Public Schools' (BPS) ongoing efforts to boost AI literacy for students across the district. Recognizing the increasing importance of emerging technologies, Mayor Wu announced a $1 million contribution from Paul English to kick off an innovative partnership aimed at better equipping BPS students and educators with the skills, curriculum, and opportunities to be proficient with AI, excel in the local workforce, and access greater economic opportunities in an evolving economy.

Boston is a hub for innovation and technology, and as AI continues to reshape many sectors, the City of Boston and BPS are working to ensure that students are equipped to thrive in rapidly changing industries. Today's announcement sets a solid foundation that BPS can build upon to ensure that every student will have access to AI literacy curriculum to harness its power in a responsible, ethical way that opens up future opportunities.

"This is a public-private partnership between city government, higher education and industry that will position Boston Public Schools as a leader in AI fluency and the understanding for all of our students to recognize the full context of this world," said Mayor Michelle Wu. "I'm grateful to Paul English and UMass Boston to help provide this fluency and we will work closely with our partners to make sure that our students know how to use AI responsibly."

"Our students are the future of this city and it's our job to ensure that they are prepared to excel in a world with rapidly changing technology, like AI, and we are grateful for Paul English's generous partnership," said Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper. "We saw first-hand in Ms. Correia's classroom how our students are already building their skills to challenge AI and use it as a tool to better themselves. We want all of our students to have access to this kind of knowledge and real-world experiences that will open doors for them. Through this partnership, we are building a strong, systemwide approach to AI literacy and ethics, which can expand opportunities for our students and supports our educators in this evolving work."

The partnership will support BPS in implementing a robust model for AI literacy, initially launching in high schools. It will also support the creation of AI ambassadors in BPS high schools, professional development, and industry-informed curriculum, which is designed to ensure that BPS students and staff are provided opportunities to learn, develop, and continuously grow their AI knowledge as the technology rapidly changes. BPS educators will receive advanced technology training and sustained support throughout the school year—all aimed at bringing cutting-edge technology into their classrooms responsibly. BPS students will gain a deep knowledge about AI and learn how to use it as a tool to better themselves. As students develop foundational literacy around AI, they will have expanded opportunities to gain hands-on experience, take on leadership roles in their school communities, and access career pathways, and access to a college-level AI course, expanding on the district's early college programming.

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UMass Boston will serve as the higher education partner, bringing its leadership as Boston's only public R1 research university. UMass Boston's Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute – the nation's first university-based institute dedicated to optimizing and democratizing the use of AI tools across a broad range of professions — will work with the district to develop curriculum, expand engagement opportunities for students, provide resources for educators, and improve operations districtwide.

Paul English will serve as an advisor on curriculum related to AI and technology through this initiative. English, founder of Boston Venture Studio, was born and raised in Boston and is a proud Boston Latin School graduate, where he was first introduced to computer programming. English is the founder or co-founder of several non-profit organizations and technology companies, including Deets, Kayak, Moonbeam, Reki, Xiangqi.com, FunContact, Lola, GetHuman, Boston Light, and Intermute, Embrace Boston, Winter Walk for Homelessness, and Institute for Applied AI.

"This initiative will not only transform the educational and career opportunities for BPS students, but it will also accelerate AI adoption across all Boston businesses as they hire students with AI experience," said Paul English. "I'm thrilled to be working with Mary Skipper and her team as Boston schools lead the way in the AI era."

"The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute was established to engage with AI in ways that model educational delivery to meet the needs of a dynamic economy and workforce and generate equitable opportunity in our communities," said UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. "This visionary $1M gift to Boston Public Schools will pioneer the application of AI to educational equity and deepen our partnership with BPS on educational initiatives that serve the City of Boston. We believe that competency in applied AI can be a great equalizer and provide real economic opportunity to any student, regardless of background."

"As technology and artificial intelligence continue to shape our world, it's critical that we prepare our students for success in both education and future careers. This public-private partnership between government, academia, and industry demonstrates our commitment to expanding AI literacy and ensuring students across Boston Public Schools have the skills and opportunities to thrive," said City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata (District 1). "I want to thank Mayor Wu, Boston Public Schools, and Paul English for their partnership in creating and bridging these opportunities for our students."

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The City also announced the formation of the BPS AI Industry Advisory Board. The Board will support the district through reviewing curriculum, advising student leaders and educators, and participating in learning opportunities for students, including hackathons. The Board will be chaired by Paul English and Ellen Rubin, Operating Partner at Glasswing Ventures. Additional advisory board members will be announced at a later date and consist of senior level employees at several successful Boston-based companies that are leading their industries with hands-on AI adoption.

Ellen Rubin is a technology CEO, founder, board member, and operating partner with 20+ years of experience building and scaling companies. In addition to her current role at Glasswing Ventures, Rubin has dedicated her career to entrepreneurship, founding multiple technology companies including Causely, CloudSwitch, and ClearSky Data. Rubin is a longstanding member of the Boston startup community, helping to foster the startup ecosystem by advising entrepreneurs as they build new companies.

"Boston has always been a leader in education and innovation," said Ellen Rubin. "I'm honored to work with Paul and the BPS team to launch this major initiative. The AI Industry Advisory Board will leverage the talent, AI expertise, and commitment of the Boston technology community to build close ties between our schools and leading AI companies in the Boston ecosystem."

"Boston is home to the innovation economy, because for 400 years we have led the way to educate people. Our students will be leading and driving change in a world where Artificial Intelligence is rapidly evolving with an understanding of the technology," said Chief Innovation and Technology Santiago Garces. "This initiative will further our work in training hundreds of City employees, collaborating on research and training for parents and students at the Boston Public Libraries and our Community Centers. Only in Boston, can our ecosystem of philanthropy, universities, companies, and government come together to deliver an AI education that is grounded on ethics, responsibility, and innovation - all in service of people and planet. "

Last year, Mayor Wu delivered the first ever State of the Schools address to showcase BPS' progress under the leadership of Superintendent Skipper. Mayor Wu's goal is to connect every resource in the city to create opportunity, support, and accountability for every student to thrive. Under Superintendent Skipper's leadership, BPS has made substantial progress for our students. This includes implementing the inclusive education plan, expanding Boston Pre-K, driving down chronic absenteeism across every grade level and student group, launching 16 new bilingual education programs, expanding early college and career pathways, and carrying out the long term facilities plan.

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