Why The Best K12 Cloud-Based Web Filters Use Artificial Intelligence
- The Deledao Team
- May 21, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 11
As digital distractions become more complex, so should our K12 web filters. It turns out, the best internet filters for schools are cloud-based and use artificial intelligence in real time.
3 Reasons AI-Powered Cloud-Based Filters Stand Out
As a collective of former IT Administrators, teachers, and Ed Tech analysts with over 36 years of experience, we've spent an unhealthy amount of time working with today's K12 administrators and teachers, focusing on the issues they need to address. From our analysis, here are 3 reasons why AI-powered cloud-based filters are best suited to solve the needs of today's IT admins.
1) Off-campus filtering
2) Personalized rules
Cloud-based filters also allow school IT admin to differentiate between rules for staff vs students, elementary schools vs middle schools vs high schools, etc. Personalizing learning means tailoring the student's internet experience to their individual needs.
3) Real-time filtering
True AI filters can filter the web in real time, whereas legacy filters cannot. You no longer need to spend most of your time manually updating your blocklist. True AI filters will capture most distracting content on the internet, saving precious time for IT staff.
4 Ways AI Web-Filtering Enhances Student Productivity and Safety Differently
1) Block Google Sites games
Many students create their own Google Sites and link to gaming websites or embed games within the site itself. Non-AI filters (legacy filters) cannot detect games on these sites because they use a static list of blocked websites and keywords that need to be manually updated with these new sites. Think of how many new Google Sites students can create!
An AI filter that filters in real time scans the webpage as it loads to detect games. The school's IT staff will save significant time that would otherwise be wasted on adding new Google Sites to a blocklist or an allowlist.
2) Blur videos and images that are or border on mature content
Real-time AI filtering works on YouTube, Google Images, embedded videos, or other visual content shown in the browser. For example, an AI filter screens through the video as it plays. When the AI filter detects mature content, it will blur and mute the video.
3) Monitor student mental well-being
AI monitors students' mental well-being, enabling schools to provide them with the necessary help. AI helps with student safety and protects their social-emotional wellbeing by detecting and alerting schools to cyberbullying and signs of self-harm.
If a student is searching for "how to kill myself" and "painless ways to die," a school may want to investigate if it is research for a project or if the student has suicidal thoughts.
4) Mitigate Zoom and Google Meet Bombing
Distance learning has led to the emergence of Zoom Bombing and Google Meet Bombing. In addition to training teachers to follow security protocols and instructing students not to share their login information, school administrators can take an institutional approach and utilize an AI filter to blur and mute mature content shared within in-browser sessions.
What is true AI filtering vs offline AI (clever marketing)?
A true AI filter works in real time on all webpages and screens through content as it loads. Other filters, including the offline AI filters, do not. This distinction gives drastically different results.
Watch out for these two buzzwords of clever marketing
Everyone's claiming to use AI or machine learning in their filtering, so watch out for these two buzzwords of clever marketing when it comes to AI web filtering:
1) "AI database"
What it really means: Using AI to build a database of pre-categorized web domains and URLs to block or allow.
Concerns: New domains and URLs are constantly being created. How will these filters ever keep up?
We have 500 hours of video uploaded every single minute to YouTube.
2) "We use AI on Google Docs!"
What it really means: But not Google Drive. Using offline AI instead of AI in real-time, which has serious limitations.
Concerns: Expect delays. Even though this type of filter may analyze some content better than filters that don't use AI at all, schools will experience delays when they are alerted to inappropriate or potentially harmful online activity.
Schools won't be able to mitigate the situation until the damage is already done.
It only works on limited websites or activities. Are you only going to filter Google Docs but not the rest of Google Drive? What about streaming videos on YouTube? What about social media?
Neither of the two above "AI filters" are true AI filters.
They cannot solve the problems mentioned above, such as filtering Google Sites games.
Why Deledao ActiveScan Is the Only Real-Time AI Filter for K12.
Deledao works on any type of webpage and for all internet activity. It understands all web content in context as a human does, rather than rely on bloated databases or outdated keyword analysis.
Compare Deledao ActiveScan to your current school filter, and we'll bet you'll see the inadequacies real quick.
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