The new curriculum rules were enacted through Senate File 496 (SF 496), passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds. The law requires books to be "age appropriate” and without “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” as per Iowa Code 702.17. The Mason City School District is using AI to ensure compliance with these rules, with the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction stating that the goal is a "defensible process."
Key takeaways:
- The school board of Mason City, Iowa is using AI technology to create lists of potentially bannable books from the district's libraries, in response to new state legislation limiting what books can be made available in school libraries and classrooms.
- The new law, Senate File 496 (SF 496), requires books to be "age appropriate” and without “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” per Iowa Code 702.17.
- The AI is used to scan books for banned content, as there are too many titles for human reviewers to cover. It first compiles a "master list" of books that have had previous complaints of sexual content, and then scans them for any depictions of sex.
- So far, the AI has flagged 19 books for removal, including titles such as _The Handmaid's Tale_ by Margaret Atwood, _Beloved_ by Toni Morrison, and _The Color Purple_ by Alice Walker.