When we first sat down with the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI (CELaRAI), the IES-funded national center at the University at Buffalo was just launching. In this episode, I return to campus to pick up the story and see how far the work has come — and where it heads next.

I speak with Dr. X. Christine Wang, Professor of Early Education and Learning Sciences at UB, Senior Associate Dean for Research at the Graduate School of Education, Director of the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center, and Principal Investigator for CELaRAI. Dr. Wang leads a team of ten co-principal investigators across six institutions — UB, Stanford, UCLA, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Michigan State, and East Carolina University — all united around a single conviction: that learning to read is a right, not a luxury. Her vision for the AI Reading Enhancer (AIRE) treats artificial intelligence as a partner to teachers, never a replacement, designed to give every K–2 child personalized, culturally responsive reading support during independent reading time.

I am also joined again by Dr. Kristen Smigielski, Project Manager for CELaRAI, whose work is grounded in inclusive education, teacher preparation, and social justice. A former kindergarten teacher and certified music educator from Western New York, Dr. Smigielski brings the classroom into every conversation about AIRE — reminding us that behind every design decision is a real teacher giving 110 percent and wishing for one more set of hands. She connects the center's research directly to what teachers need to feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.

Together, we look at what the team learned during its foundational year of listening to teachers, observing classrooms, and reviewing responsible-AI policy, and where the work heads next as AIRE moves from prototype toward classroom study. This is a story about Western New York leading the nation — and about keeping students and teachers at the center of everything AI can become in early literacy.

Learn more at https://earlyliteracyai.org/

Find us on Twitter @NiagaraErie

Or visit our website E-NSSA.org