Generative Artificial Intelligence in education: What are the opportunities and challenges?

Generative Artificial Intelligence in education: What are the opportunities and challenges?

Artificial Intelligence tools open new horizons for education, but we urgently need to take action to ensure we integrate them into learning systems on our terms. That is the core message of UNESCO’s new paper on generative AI and the future of education. In her think piece, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini expresses her concerns that the checks and balances applied to teaching materials are not being used to the implementation of generative AI. While highlighting that AI tools open new opportunities for learning, she underscores that regulations can only be built once the proper research has been conducted.

Readiness of schools to regulate the use of AI tools in education

In May, a UNESCO global survey of over 450 schools and universities found that fewer than 10% have developed institutional policies and/or formal guidance concerning the use of generative AI applications. The paper observes that in most countries, the time, steps and authorizations needed to validate a new textbook far surpass those required to move generative AI utilities into schools and classrooms. Textbooks are usually evaluated for accuracy of content, age-appropriateness, relevance of teaching and accuracy of content, cultural and social suitability which encompasses checks to protect against bias, before being used in the classroom.

Education systems must set own rules

The education sector cannot rely on the corporate creators of AI to regulate its own work. To vet and validate new and complex AI applications for formal use in school, UNESCO recommends that ministries of education build their capacities in coordination with other regulatory branches of government, in particular those regulating technologies.

Potential to undermine the status of teachers and the necessity of schools

The paper underscores that education should remain a deeply human act rooted in social interaction. It recalls that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital technology became the primary medium for education, students suffered both academically and socially. The paper warns us that generative AI in particular has the potential to both undermine the authority and status of teachers, and to strengthen calls for further automation of education: Teacher-less schools, and school-less education. It emphasizes that well-run schools, coupled with sufficient teacher numbers, training and salaries must be prioritized.

Education spending must focus on fundamental learning objectives

The paper argues that investment in schools and teachers, is the only way to solve the problem that today, at the dawn of the AI Era, 244 million children and youth are out of school and more than 770 million people are non-literate. Evidence shows that good schools and teachers can resolve this persistent educational challenge – yet the world continues to underfund them.

UNESCO’s response to generative AI in education

UNESCO is steering the global dialogue with policy-makers, EdTech partners, academia and civil society. The first global meeting of Ministers of Education took place in May 2023 and the

Organization is developing policy guidelines on the use of generative AI in education and research, as well as frameworks of AI competencies for students and teachers for school education. These will be launched during the Digital Learning Week, which will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 4-7 September 2023. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 to be published on 26 July 2023 will focus on the use of technology in education.

UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

UNESCO produced the first-ever global standard on AI ethics – the ‘Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ in November 2021. This framework was adopted by all 193 Member States. The Recommendation stresses that governments must ensure that AI always adheres to the principles of safety, inclusion, diversity, transparency and quality.

Read the full paper here: Generative AI and the future of education

Rachel TCHEUNGNA

Bilingual Investigative Journalist. Editor, Author, Writer of? 23 educational books in both English and French of The Bridge Books series

2 个月

Chers tous, chères toutes, ? Cette saison chez The Bridge Magazine,?????l’importance de?: l’EAU comme constituant primordial des êtres vivants, et élément indispensable à toute forme de vie. ? Il suffit d'une goutte d’eau ?? pour sauver des vies?!!!? Mais les sources d'eau potable du monde entier ??sont restreintes car l'eau insalubre continue de tuer plus de personnes chaque année que les guerres et toutes les autres formes de violence combinées. ? Les dernières statistiques de l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) sont incroyables : ? ? à l'horizon 2025, la moitié de la population mondiale vivra dans des zones touchées par le stress hydrique. […]. ? ? Et si l'eau??était la clé de la vie ? On pense que les astrobiologistes et les scientifiques en quête de vie meilleure?? sur d'autres planètes ont rapidement conclu que?:? notre meilleure partie dans notre quête illusoire de la vie éternelle serait d’abord de chercher à trouver davantage d'eau douce pour l’humanité toute entière.? ?Lire plus ?? https://www.the-bridge-magazine.com/canicules-et-crise-aigue-deau-potable-en-france-sur-la-cote-dazur-et-dans-le-monde-entier-quand-mere-nature-reprend-ses-droits-cette-saison-the-bridge-magazine-sensibilise-ses-lecteurs-sur-l/

Gonzalo Eduardo Baquero Paret

Neurólogo Pediátra en Hospital Metropolitano ( Quito- Ecuador)

9 个月

NO DEBEMOS TEMER A LA NEUROCIENCIA. Los profesionales de la salud sabemos y debemos apegarnos al hecho indiscutible de que la ética van siempre de la mano de la ciencia, de ésta manera, se protege la salud integral y los otros derechos humanos de nuestros pacientes. Los neurólogos debemos estar en la vanguardia del conocimiento y avances de la neuro tecnología y de la neurociencia en general, lo que no nos faculta a actuar sin apego a la ética médica. Primero no da?ar, decía el filosofo.

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SAM M.

EDUCATION

11 个月

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Basic sences in AI then another chapters go through now

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