Mason City Iowa school district ejects Friday Night Lights book from reading game.

The Iowa Senate File 496 requires every book available to students to be “age appropriate” and free of any “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” This regulation authorized the Mason City Community School District to remove H. G. Bissenger’s book Friday Night Lights to ban it from schools in the district.

How did the school district determine that the book was unsuitable? Did they have a group of educators in the district read the book? Did they ask a panel of teachers and parents to review the book? No! They used ChatGPT to provide a “textual analysis” of the title. They used the artificial intelligence (AI) platform to screen the book. The district said it was “not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.” Wow! This is another black mark for AI.

Friday Night Lights is the bestselling book about the 1988 Odessa Permian football team. The book revealed the “prominent role high school football plays in society” and the intense pressure on the athletes in these programs. You could apply the lessons from the book to any “big-time” high school or college athletic team. The book inspired a movie and television series. The book helped lead coaches into coaching in Texas. The author said it was a “great book for kids” especially teenage boys who “don’t like to read anything.”

Author Bissenger was shocked at the accusation and subsequent ban. He said, “There is no sex at all. I’ve never depicted a sex act.” “I purposely stayed away from that.” Bissenger added, “Kids are supposed to learn.” “They are supposed to learn about the elements of our society.”

This application of AI to screen books could metastasize to other states. Previously, I have written about the flaws in AI. Using AI will only expose more of the software’s problems. Authors should fight this dangerous use of AI.