UW Researchers Plan to Use Teacher-Worn Cameras for AI Training, Parents Opt-Out

University of Washington researchers planned to have preschool teachers wear cameras that record everything from a first-person perspective, including children, to develop AI models. The program was presented as opt-out, meaning parents had to actively prevent recordings of their children being processed by AI.

According to a document given to parents and shared with 404 Media: "With your permission, your child’s lead teacher may wear a small teacher-worn camera that captures the teacher's approximate first-person perspective, and/or we may place a fixed video camera in the classroom." Recordings would occur during morning program hours up to 150 minutes, up to 4 visits in one month.

The document states that videos "simply capture the normal interactions between teachers and children during regular classroom activities" and that children "will not be asked to do anything new or different." However, the opt-out approach contrasts with typical opt-in consent for recording minors, raising privacy concerns.

This is part of a broader trend of using AI to analyze sensitive environments. 404 Media also reported similar projects: the Mayo Clinic uses AI "Ambient Listening" to process ER visits, and the FBI has extracted suspects' deleted Signal messages from iPhone notification databases.