By Hank Russell
With the recent controversies over two Regents exams that were issued last week, one elected official and gubernatorial candidate is claiming that artificial intelligence (AI) was to blame for the errors in the Regents exams for Biology and Earth Science and was the result of the governor’s lack of oversight.
On June 22, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) issued a statement saying that they received complaints from students, parents and teachers of “problems” with the exams.
“From what we’ve heard, teachers prepared students according to known curriculum standards, students studied the required material, and parents supported their children, all following what they believed were established guidelines,” NYSUT stated. “Despite these proper preparations, it seems the exam content may not have aligned with the approved curriculum that educators were directed to teach and students were expected to learn.”
NYSUT set up an online form allowing those to lodge their complaints or concerns about the mistakes found in the Regents. The union also said it is working with the state Department of Education (DOE) to work on “corrective action for the future.”
The DOE also sent a notice to the schools that Questions 20 and 21 “did not have the correct answer choice” and all students should be given credit for the two questions.
In response, DOE spokesperson JP O’Hare said to Newsday in a statement, “Through the New York State Education Department’s extensive, industry-standard test development processes, carried out in collaboration with hundreds of NYS teachers, we are confident that the Regents Exams are well-aligned with the state’s learning standards.”
O’Hare also told News 12 that the fault must have been with the classroom instruction. “If students were not taught content on the Regents, that is an implementation issue, not an exam issue,” he said.
But County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running for governor, said the blame lies with Governor Kathy Hochul for failing to oversee the DOE and for “systemic incompetence.” He also called for the state Inspector General to launch an immediate inquiry into the procurement and development process of the June 2026 test cycle to determine exactly how algorithmic content was approved for graduation-level testing without rigorous human oversight.
The demand, Blakeman said, follows a groundswell of outrage from educators, parents, and panicked students who exposed the June Biology and Earth Science Regents exams as what he called unreadable, structurally glitchy, and riddled with classic AI-hallucinated errors and nonsensical diagrams.
“Our kids spent the entire school year working hard, studying, and preparing for their futures—only to sit down for a high-stakes exam that looked like it was cooked up by a generic chatbot in five minutes,” said Blakeman. “Kathy Hochul has completely abandoned her duty to oversee our state’s education system. This is systemic incompetence, and it’s a direct slap in the face to every teacher who pours their heart into the classroom and every parent expecting standard accountability from Albany.”
Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said that Blakeman’s “MAGA mudslinging” is getting in the way of the facts. “The truth is, when Donald Trump called to defund New York’s schools, Blakeman stood by silently and obediently, while Governor Hochul fought back to protect our kids — investing in our students, delivering universal free school meals, and banning cell phones in schools so that kids can learn,” he said.