How Education Must Adapt to Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft is looking for ways to incorporate OpenAI's technology into its Office apps. The integration will give users the ability to fill documents with automatically generated text.

We can only assume Google has AI integration for its Google workspace.

Canva is targeting business users with generative AI-powered tools.

As the world adapts to the reality of OpenAI tools and their benefits, there are those who are resisting the change. As with any technological advancement there are advantages and disadvantages, and this time saving tool is no exception.

Educators claim the technology is 'causing problems' for students

Since OpenAI unveiled?an AI chatbot, ChatGPT, which has stunned users with its advanced functions like generating school essays for any grade level, answering open-ended analytical questions and writing jokes, poems and even computer code. The internet is buzzing with predictions about the implications of this sophisticated technology, but at the forefront of this concern is the impact it will?have on education.

“I personally think that we should be restricting all sorts of technological tools, and this one I think for a very particular reason,” said Peter Laffin, the founder of Crush the College Essay and a writing coach told Fox News, who was an English teacher of over 10 years. “We want to make sure that we’re teaching kids, not just the subject but also values.”

How should schools respond to students using OpenAI?

I guess that depends on the context in which students are using it.

Here are a few possibilities:

1) If students are using OpenAI as part of a class assignment or project, the school could provide support and guidelines to help students understand and effectively use the tools. This could include providing additional resources, such as tutorials or documentation, or offering office hours or one-on-one support from instructors or teaching assistants.

If students are using OpenAI on their own, outside of a structured class or assignment, the school could encourage students to use the tools responsibly and ethically. This might involve educating students about the potential risks and benefits of using AI, and helping them understand how to use AI in a way that is respectful of others and responsible with data.

If students are using OpenAI in a way that is disruptive or harmful to others, the school may need to take more serious action. This could include counseling or discipline, depending on the severity of the situation.

While many schools have blocked and restricted access to OpenAI it's nearly impossible to completely restrict use of this technology for work that is assigned outside of school.

In my opinion, adapting is the only option. The key change is to shift toward an education that strengthens?creativity, the one area where humans will continue to excel. AI algorithms are very efficient at retrieving patterns and making predictions based on data. But when it comes to abstract thinking, common sense and transfer learning, humans still have the edge. With the advancement of tech tools that "do the work" for you, students need to be encouraged to be more resourceful and think more creatively which is a skill set that will surely benefit them long after their years in the classroom.