Update: progress on Chat GPT in education

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword in almost every industry, and education is no exception. With the potential to transform the way we learn and teach, AI has captured the attention of educators, technologists, and policymakers alike. In this blog post, we will delve into the impact of generative AI on the education sector and the opportunities it offers to improve the learning experience and data management.

This latest blog is based on a summary of an interview with David Foster, from ADSP.

I asked David some of his recent work with AI in education sector.

David

In recent times, AI and Bromcom have been two topics that have been written about a lot. I wasn’t at the BETT Show this year directly with Bromcom, but I was there with my company ADSP. We were interested in the impact that generative AI will have on the education sector. We were really impressed with the demo of Chat GPT integrations on their platform. We’re currently looking at ways to integrate with this space as a consultancy, because we believe there’s a huge opportunity for schools and educational organizations to get ahead of the curve.

ADSP is a data science and AI consultancy that has been around for six years now, delivering solutions across the public and private sectors. We’re called Applied because everything we do has a practical application, and we always tie it back to actual, tangible, measurable outcomes for businesses. We’re a full-stack software engineering company, so we can build solutions directly for our customer base, making us an attractive proposition for companies that want a one-stop-shop for an AI and data science solution. We try to understand the problem that the business is facing in great depth so that we can build the best possible solution for them.

And you know, stopping and leaving it at that, we're always trying to find ways that we can say that this has a measurable impact, whether that's financially or time saving, or whatever it might be. So in terms of skillsets, yeah, we've got data engineering, data science, obviously. But also, we are a full stack, software engineering company. So we can build products, we can build solutions directly for our customer base, which makes us an attractive proposition, I think, for companies that come to us because it we are a one stop shop for an AI and data science solution. And yet, we'd like to add a human aspect of it, we do, we're not just software developers, but we do try to understand the problem that the business is facing in great depth so that we can build the best possible solution for them.

Pete

So in terms of the MIS space, what are common problems that you're encountering that you that they want you to address and eventually solve?

David

The integration of generative AI into different platforms is becoming more common across sectors, including education. Chat GPT, for instance, is being integrated into platforms to allow users to interact with data without having to pull it out into other systems. This has made it possible for everyone in an organisation to interrogate data and ask questions from that data, rather than having to go to an IT team or analysts for ad-hoc requests. This is a great enabler of generative AI for businesses to start asking questions of data and talk to it as if it were a person in the organization.

I think, well, there's a few angles. So first of all, and we're seeing this across every sector, actually, not just education. The idea that, you know, a single platform isn't necessarily just doing one thing anymore, but it's having other generative tools being built into it. So this is a good example of this, where, you know, originally and this was all about data capture and about being a very much a sort of read only system that you know, you capture your data, and then it's there when you need it to be able to perform analytics on it, or integrate into other systems. But what we're seeing with generative AI is that you can now inter interrogate and ask questions off that data, without having to pull it out into other systems. I think machine learning and AI traditionally has been, you know, largely based around, first of all, building a big data warehouse that you suck the data out of into, and then once it's in there, then you can do AI and analytics on it. But actually, with large language modelling, what we're seeing is that you can build a lot of these capabilities into the tools themselves. So you know, I can understand completely why Bromcom would want to build in the integrations with chat GPT directly into their tool, so that IT professionals or indeed, teachers might ask questions about that data directly without having to go to an IT team or to analysts with ad hoc requests. So I think I think it's a great enabler, generative AI for, you know, everybody across an organisation or in or an institution or business to, to really start to, to ask questions of data and talk to it as if it were a person in the organisation rather than this, you know, scary entity that only analysts know how to deal with.

Pete

With AI comes concerns about GDPR, copyright infringement, and IP violations

David

This is a valid concern that every business is grappling with. Open AI has acknowledged this and is planning to release Chat GPT for businesses that want tighter controls over the data. This will ensure that security is not compromised.

Pete

Many thanks for taking to us, David. So AI has the potential to bring about a significant change in the education sector, from personalised learning to data-driven decision making. However, as with any emerging technology, we must exercise caution, and regulations must be put in place to ensure data privacy and security.

As we continue to explore the possibilities of AI in education, it is crucial to keep in mind its ethical and social implications and work towards a future that benefits all.