GEF Madrid 2024: Ethical implications of AI
Summary
TLDRThe Global Educational Forum panel, moderated by Gregory Enu, delved into the ethical implications of AI in education. Panelists from diverse backgrounds, including academia and AI industry, discussed challenges such as transparency, explainability, and biases in AI systems. They explored AI's potential to democratize education through personalized learning while raising concerns about privacy, misinformation, and the digital divide. The conversation underscored the need for responsible AI development and the crucial role of educators in guiding ethical AI use.
Takeaways
- ๐ The panel at the Global Educational Forum discussed the ethics and implications of AI in education, emphasizing the importance of considering moral questions of right and wrong in AI development.
- ๐จโ๐ซ Gregory Enu, the Arison professor at George Mason University, shared his experience with AI in education, highlighting the potential and challenges AI brings to the field, starting with his first interaction with a chatbot in 2002.
- ๐ The panel acknowledged the lack of focus on the ethical implications of AI in academic research, pointing out that this is a significant gap that needs to be addressed.
- ๐ The role of AI in education is to teach students to use digital technologies effectively, ensuring they are not merely used by technology but can leverage it for personal and professional growth.
- ๐ค Hgo, the Chief AI Officer at Adal, discussed the importance of transparency and explainability in AI systems, noting that understanding these concepts is crucial for ethical AI development and compliance with regulations.
- ๐๏ธ Ahmed Gal from R University highlighted the issue of identity in AI, especially for creatives, where the use of AI in the creative process raises questions about authorship and originality.
- ๐ Mark Kaban raised concerns about the influence of arms manufacturers in STEM education, questioning the ethics of these corporations shaping educational missions and potentially grooming students for certain industries.
- ๐ The panelists considered the role of AI in addressing global educational inequities, discussing the potential of AI to provide personalized learning experiences and democratize access to knowledge.
- ๐ซ There was a debate on whether AI can replace the social aspect of learning and the motivation provided by human interaction, teachers, and peer groups.
- ๐ค The potential of AI to personalize education was discussed, along with the ethical considerations of data privacy and the development of relationships between students and virtual assistants.
- ๐ฎ The panel concluded that while AI offers opportunities for education, it cannot solve the fundamental issues of motivation and the need for human interaction in the learning process.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the panel discussion at the Global Educational Forum?
-The main topic of the panel discussion is 'Ethics and ethical implications in AI'.
What is Gregory Enu's professional background?
-Gregory Enu is the Arison Professor at George Mason University, a sustainability guest editor at the MIT Sloan Management Review, and has a background in AI technology and education.
Why did Gregory Enu initially engage with Chat GPT in 2002?
-Gregory Enu engaged with Chat GPT to seek a lesson plan on how to teach digital literacy to undergraduate students, recognizing the potential of AI in education.
What is the role of the chief AI officer at adal.adigital according to the panelist named Hgo?
-The role is to lead a team that works with member companies to understand the complexities of AI and to help them navigate the ethical and technical aspects of emerging technologies.
What ethical issue does Hgo believe the forum participants should consider?
-Hgo believes that transparency and explainability of AI systems are critical ethical issues that participants should consider.
What is the background of the panelist Ahmed Gal from R University?
-Ahmed Gal is an AI professional with 30 years of experience, focusing on the intersection of AI and art, and runs an Art and AI Lab at R University.
What is the ethical concern that Ahmed Gal raises regarding AI and creative identity?
-Ahmed Gal raises the concern of identity in creative works, where the use of AI complicates the issue of authorship and originality in art and music.
What is Mark Kaban's perspective on the involvement of arms manufacturers in STEM education?
-Mark Kaban expresses concern over the potential indoctrination and ethical implications of arms manufacturers funding and teaching STEM programs in K12 schools.
What is the issue of 'AI hallucination' mentioned by Mark Kaban?
-AI hallucination refers to instances where AI systems provide false or made-up information in their responses, which can be problematic for learners who may not discern the inaccuracies.
What is the potential ethical issue with virtual assistants in education raised in the discussion?
-The potential ethical issue is the personalization of education through virtual assistants, which raises questions about privacy, the nature of relationships students form with these assistants, and the implications of those relationships.
What is the fundamental question about education that the panelists believe AI might help re-evaluate?
-The fundamental question is the purpose and role of education when global access to knowledge is available through AI, and how to motivate students in an era where knowledge acquisition is not the sole reason for attending school.
Outlines
๐ค Introduction to the Ethics of AI in Education
The session at the Global Educational Forum is introduced by Gregory Enu, the Arison Professor at George Mason University and guest editor at MIT Sloan Management Review. The panel discusses the critical topic of ethics and ethical implications in AI, highlighting the importance of considering moral questions in AI development. Gregory shares his background in digital literacy education and his experience with AI's potential and challenges in education, setting the stage for a discussion on ethical concerns with expert panelists.
๐ The Role of AI in the Digital Economy and Ethical Considerations
Hgo, the Chief AI Officer at Adal, the Spanish Association of the Digital Economy, discusses the role of AI in the digital economy, emphasizing the importance of transparency and explainability in AI systems. He explains that understanding the models we build and use is crucial for compliance with regulations and for stakeholders' trust. Hgo also addresses the complexity of AI models and the challenge of translating the vast amount of data into understandable reasons for decision-making, which is fundamental for ethical AI deployment.
๐จ The Intersection of Art, AI, and Ethical Identity Concerns
Ahmed Gal from R University, with a background in AI and art, raises the issue of identity in AI ethics, particularly for creatives using AI in their work. He discusses the challenges of authorship and originality when AI is involved in the creative process, as the randomness of AI output can lead to different results from similar prompts. This raises questions about the ethical implications of AI on the identity and rights of creators in the arts and humanities.
๐ The Influence of Arms Manufacturers on STEM Education
Mark Kaban, with a background in psychology and experience in education for displaced youth, expresses concern over the involvement of arms manufacturers in funding and teaching STEM programs in K-12 schools. He highlights the potential ethical issues of indoctrination and the grooming of young students to potentially join the arms industry. Kaban raises the question of whether educational missions should be tied to the interests of such corporations and the ethical implications of this relationship on students and society.
๐ The Impact of AI on Global Education and Inequities
The panel delves into the role of AI in global education, focusing on the sustainable development goals related to quality education and reducing inequities. They discuss the potential of AI to address these divides and the ethical considerations of how AI is integrated into education globally. The conversation touches on the need for responsible AI that considers vulnerable populations, gender issues, and sustainability, emphasizing the importance of unbiased data and culturally appropriate models.
๐ง AI's Potential to Revitalize Curiosity-Based Learning
The discussion explores how AI can enable problem-solving and curiosity-based learning on a global scale, potentially transforming the traditional curriculum-based approach to education. Panelists consider the ethical implications of AI-generated content, including the challenges of bias and the need for accurate data sources. They also acknowledge that biases exist within the education system prior to the advent of AI, suggesting a need to address these systemic issues alongside the integration of AI in education.
๐ The Gutenberg Parenthesis and the Future of Learning with AI
The concept of the Gutenberg Parenthesis is introduced, suggesting that the advent of the printing press changed learning methods about 500 years ago, and now technologies like AI may be closing that parenthesis. The panel discusses the potential for AI to facilitate a return to discussion-based and curiosity-driven learning, while also leveraging modern technology. Concerns are raised about the effectiveness of AI in engaging students and the importance of social interaction in the learning process.
๐ค Ethical Challenges of AI in Personalized Education
The panelists consider the ethical challenges of using AI for personalized education, including privacy concerns related to data collection and the potential for AI to become deeply involved in students' lives. They discuss the early stages of AI in education and the need for critical understanding of these systems. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of AI's commercialization and ubiquity in society, and the importance of considering ethical and moral consequences proactively.
๐ซ The Role of Teachers in an AI-Enhanced Educational Landscape
The panel concludes by emphasizing the importance of teachers in an AI-enhanced educational landscape. They acknowledge the potential of AI to provide global access to knowledge but stress that AI cannot replace the motivation, coaching, and critical thinking skills that educators provide. The ethical questions surrounding the use of technology in education are highlighted as an ongoing area of concern that will continue to be discussed and addressed in the future.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กEthics
๐กArtificial Intelligence (AI)
๐กDigital Literacy
๐กTransparency
๐กExplainability
๐กBias
๐กSustainable Development Goals
๐กGlobal Education
๐กPersonalization
๐กVirtual Assistants
Highlights
Gregory Enu introduces the panel on ethics and ethical implications in AI at the Global Educational Forum.
The importance of addressing not only political, legal, and policy questions but also moral questions in AI ethics is emphasized.
Academic research is identified as lacking in the area of AI's ethical implications.
Gregory shares his experience with AI in education and the potential and challenges it presents.
Hgo, Chief AI Officer at Adal, discusses the need for transparency and explainability in AI systems for ethical considerations.
Ahmed Gal from R University talks about the intersection of AI, art, and humanities, and the ethical aspects of AI in creative processes.
The issue of identity in creative works produced with AI is highlighted as a significant ethical concern.
Mark Kaban raises the ethical implications of AI education being led by corporations with vested interests.
The potential for AI to democratize education by overcoming geographic and social divides is discussed.
Cultural biases in AI models and the importance of localizing AI for different regions are highlighted.
The role of AI in global education and its potential to address inequities is examined.
The concept of 'hallucination' in AI, where AI generates false information, is identified as a challenge.
The need for critical thinking and discernment when using AI in education is emphasized.
The ethical considerations of personalized learning through AI and the data required for such personalization are discussed.
The potential of AI to change the fundamental understanding of education and the role of educators is considered.
The panel concludes with a reflection on the ongoing ethical discussions and challenges presented by AI in education.
Transcripts
okay all right welcome everyone this is
the obviously the the session here in in
the uh Global educational
Forum my name is Gregory enu I'm uh the
Arison professor at George Mason
University I'm also the sustainability
guest editor at the MIT Sloan management
review um and the topic of this panel is
ethics and ethical implications in AI
we've seen in the plenary sessions quite
a bit of discussion about ethics
um car antias from the AI advisory
Commission of the UN highlighted that
the tech the questions we need to face
are not only political legal and policy
but also Moral Moral questions are
questions of right or wrong good or bad
and those are the considerations we're
charged with here we also found out from
George seamons that uh the acade
Academia is doing a poor job the number
one deficit in academic research is the
ethical implic ations of AI so um we're
talking about a very very important
topic today um I have an interesting
sort of background I'll share uh quickly
with uh around AI technology and
education uh in 20 2002 I was asked to
revamp our digital literacy course for
our undergraduate students for the 20
year-old students and so we were
designing a course that could teach uh
students to use digital Technologies to
advance their personal and professional
goals use technology and not be be used
by technology and in November of that
year in the middle of the class chat GPT
was launched and so as a professor of
the class on digital digital literacy I
logged in got my account and typed in my
the first thing I ever typed in is how
should I teach chat gbtb to my students
and within seconds I got a very well
reasoned out lesson plan and with just a
couple of touches of the keyboard I
recognized immediately the vast
potential that artificial intelligence
and large m models could bring to
education and then all the vast
potential challenges ethical and
otherwides that it can bring so that's
what we'll tap into here today and we
have uh a series of very uh qualified
and expert panelists to discuss this
area that we're still discovering uh the
some ethical concerns we are aware of
many were not aware of so what I would
like to ask is we'll go around uh the
panel here ask each of you to introduce
yourself tell us a little bit about your
background and then just select one
ethical issue that you think the
participants of this uh this forum
should be considering and uh being
perhaps thinking about responses or
Solutions too so please hello hello
everyone hello
everyone so my name is hgo I'm the chief
AI officer at adal adigital is the
Spanish Association of the digital
economy so we comprise around a bit more
than 500 companies uh that go from the
small digital marketing outlet with to
people to the big uh the big Tech
corporates startups and scale UPS um my
role in the in the association is is
it's a new role is is is I think today a
year since we started is is to lead a
team that work along the the the member
companies uh around the complexities of
AI so this Association went from Pure
public policy to let's say opening the
umbrella and trying to help uh companies
understand Ai and in general emerging
Technologies uh in a much deeper way
um while performing public policy of
course and and continuing with with the
things that that an association like
that typic typically that typically do
uh my background is technical so I don't
come from P policy I have a PhD in
computer science so that's basically
what I bring to the table in in the
association uh with the rest of the
expert team in public policy regulation
and the laugh and and the thing and and
also some startups that I founded around
the data the data world so just trying
to answer your your your question um I
believe that the and what we're trying
to do not just just our talk but Walk
The Talk um anything that we talk when
we think about ethical principles when
we think about sustainability when we
think about uh uh algorithmic justice or
Equity nothing can happen without
transparency and explainability of the
systems uh and I believe we are still in
this moment where we need to work with
companies work with Regulators to fully
understand what transparency and
explainability means transparency
meaning in a very simple way uh how do
you do commend how do you understand the
own models that you are building or you
are using uh because the regulation
affects not only uh what you build but
also what you use so you may be using a
third party uh Mo AI U AI models and
you're still have to be compliant with
the regulation and not also what you
document but also how you share it with
your stakeholders which can be your CFO
but can be your user your customer or
the regulator of course or the Society
because you believe or you are forced to
depending on regulation to publish that
information to the to the to the public
Society uh and also explainability and I
think that's obvious but we will discuss
about that because um models have
different levels of complexity uh the
most complex and Powerful models at the
same time difficult to understand
typically people say that is blackbox no
they they're not Black Box we are the
Black Box uh if you ask uh uh an
autonomous uh car about how why it
turned right instead of left is going to
say perfect I'm going to give you the
250 million reasons why I chose to turn
right uh the problem is how we are able
to turn that into the 10 or 15 key
reasons why the that we can understand
why the car turned right and this is I
believe the the core from which we can
start building the rest of the uh
ethical principles and in order to build
the responsible AI wonderful thank you
that's very very good point if for
building um intelligent model models
that we can understand uh first of all
it's difficult for us to accept and
trust their results but also you point
out very clearly if we don't understand
what they're doing regulation is is very
challenging so excellent very great
points all right so I introduce myself
um uh my name is Ahmed gal from R
University um I am an AI by training I
have been doing AI for the last 30 years
um in computer science and uh being um a
university Professor I also teach AI um
undergrad and grad and uh being in the
intersection um of education and uh
doing AI research is really interesting
um in the last 15 years I switched my
focus into um the area of Art and AI in
particular so I have a lab called the
art and AI Lab at redgar which really
give me um the opportunity to to
interact with people in Humanities um
and uh people um in in art schools um
and and that was an eye opener for me um
to talk to these people and understand
um their concern and and their the
issues they are dealing with and that
was before the current hype of AI um so
now I mean uh when I hear many of the
discussion um I have uh totally
different perspectives of of many of the
people uh who are just started to think
about these kind of problems so for
today's um for this uh banel I mean uh
there are many many things we can talk
about um
it's multifold in terms of we talk about
implication of AI in ethics so um um
I'll keep it open uh for the discussion
great so just to be clear your lab um
you've been speaking with artists and
their concerns are about their the
rights to their creative yes a lot of uh
discussion about um um the ethical
aspects of uh using AI the ethical
aspects of uh uh training AI um issues
about uh artist identity um um uh there
are another banel later today about art
and AI I don't want to but may might not
be attending there so I can I can also
get dig into this so um one of the
particular issues about ethical AI in
general which I don't hear many people
discussing is the issue of identity um
which um for creatives is very
fundamental uh if you are a Creator
doing art or music or anything that and
decide to use AI in your process
obviously there is a problem of um what
the AI is trained on and and how that's
being used but you as a Creator uh when
you write a prompt for example and
create an image um and you claim
authorship of that as you you don't
realize that um um somebody else might
use very similar prompt and generate
something different right and it's
different uh not because of what you did
or what you add the system it's just
different because there's a random
random random number generator at the
back end like a fing a coin that give
you different outcome from that other
person outcome so now the issue of
authorship which is fundamental um to um
to many many creative domain and
fundamental in
Humanities uh is is problematic yes and
and this start to emerge now um and and
um once you are using AI now it becomes
a big problem big ethical problem yes
well and it's interesting since we're
talking about educational context what
what you just described when a human
does it we would call it or a student
does it we call it plagiarism but when a
machine does it what do we call it
anyway we can leave that open and I'll
uh pass on to our next panelist thank
you I appreciate everyone for being here
thank you for coming together for this
discussion my name is Mark kaban and my
my doctoral training is in behavior and
cognitive
psychology and and adult learning adult
development um but for the last 15 years
I've been leading uh an NGO for Refugee
youth that been displaced by War and
then I spent three years as a director
um of an ed leadership master's program
in a very Innovative um kind of Boutique
graduate school and I was surprised on
my first week on the job I got an email
um that the students that are connected
to our University were having a free
stem program and I thought that's really
fantastic um so I clicked on it and I
saw that it was uh Skunk Works which is
one of the divisions of loed Martin that
makes a lot of their weapons and uh they
were not only funding this program and
offering it for free but they were
actually teaching it themselves and so I
got really interested and what I did and
if you want to do this go on Google not
now but just do a quick search um of all
these arms manufacturers Alba locked
Martin uh Ron Boeing and then put stem
in K12 schools and what you'll see is
that they've been investing millions of
dollars um into these programs around
the country and not a lot of people are
talking about it when I say not a lot I
don't it's it's kind of zero if if you
look it up online they're just kind of
articles that are written in local
Publications announcing this as a very
good thing um I was a bit shocked by
that because if you watch the videos um
you know it's a it's part partly
indoctrination I remember one of the
first people speaking on the video from
Lockheed was saying that I'm proud to
make the foreign policy tools of our
country he's talking about the
F35 and so then I thought wow these
16-year-old kids are being groomed to
being arms manufacturers why does this
matter now because across the United
States there's been this Uprising that's
happening in 140 plus schools where this
is coming to question that should the
educational missions of universities be
tied up um in you know creating weapons
and making wealth off of that um
and so the ethical question is going to
be what's going to happen at the
universities right now and and how this
plays out and if this is going to down
trickle down to the K12 system will
these um quote unquote stem AI programs
going to be questioned for their ethical
uses as well why do I care about this I
care about this because my family was
displaced by a war an Imperial War I
care about this because I spent uh 10
years of my life working with children
that have been displaced um by very us
Imperial Wars and yet at the same time
it's a topic that's seldom spoken about
um in the US if you even say the word
empire people look at you like um you're
from a different planet like what are
you talking about uh because the United
States was an Anti-Imperialist kind of
country and its origin story so I think
uh I like the niche kind of topics that
we have you have a tough job ahead of
you I know about how to tie these
together but that's the thing that's on
my mind today no that's very good and
that's you know um one of the things you
point out is that the uh creators of
these Technologies are largely
corporations and we've had the point
about understanding how these
Technologies work there's an asymmetry
at information right and the and the the
creators of the technology have way more
information about the technology um and
they also have demands I've worked also
with Intel and Intel has um what they
called originally AI for youth but it
was a k312 program and they have a whole
series now of programs they're they're
framing is they're trying to uh prevent
the creation of an artificial
intelligence digital divide but you're
absolutely correct do we want artificial
intelligence education stem education
being led by corporations and their
needs or do we want it led by private
colleges or do we want it led by the
public big questions and the challenge
there is that the people that control
the knowledge about how these things
work that information is very
concentrated in the creators and not
well spread which makes it a challenge
for the uh public institutions to deal
with it so we are talking about this is
the global education Forum so um let's
talk about this idea of global education
the role AI can play in global education
um we look frequently in terms of sort
of the ethical questions about you know
sustainable development to the
sustainable development goals we have
one of the sustainable development goals
is around quality education number four
the other one is about lowering
inequities um there are many divides
Geographic divides uh social divides and
the question is will what's the role of
AI and educa what's the role of
education and the role of AI in
education in helping us confront those
divides and from your perspectives do
you have any ethical considerations
about that question about what AI will
do in terms of the the equity around the
globe and and those situations we can
start we can go however you want but if
you want to go around the circle again
please yeah absolutely um great and
difficult question um we're now working
in a in a project in in in order to
bring responsible AI in in in not not to
bring because it already exist but to um
push the the concept of responsible AI
in Latin americ and Caribbean and um
there I mean of course we we treat it in
in in different standpoints one is to
increase in compet the competitivity of
um competitiveness sorry of of small
companies and things like this but that
there are three elements that we're
starting to see to look in in detail and
probably you you know lot about this but
just to share um one is the vulnerable
population both in terms of economy and
in terms of exclusion of course there
another important thing and critical
which is gender and then this this thing
of sustainability and uh what we're
trying to do and we starting so it's
just kind of a
of an initial initial work is to try to
understand uh how this is done because
what one this the the difficulty of this
of this specific project is that it's
not a very tactical project it's a
strategic project so on the one hand we
have to bring responsibil to the region
or to work with the uh existing uh uh
local agents already there in order to
kind of bring the let's say experience
that we are having with the with the AI
act and all the things that are
happening here in Europe uh but at the
same time uh without having specific
projects that can bias us to the
specific things uh but I think those are
the three elements that is that we've
recognized as as critical or the most
critical that we've seen at least in
that area in order to to work in on the
role of AI and that is affected by
education okay so how can we first use
how can we educate in AI but how can we
use AI in that education to scale as
much as possible and that brings us
again to the concept of bias and the
concept of you know how do we do there
so for example I don't know you know but
for example the Spanish government uh
just announced a couple weeks ago that
they're uh going to have relationships
with different companies and different
institutions in order to build uh the
Spanish and other co-official languages
in Spain and and Latin America uh
language model okay uh for us that
brings us questions about whether that's
that's the best way to bring you know
the new AI uh to the region or is much
better and that's a question of uh
whether what a government like this
should just focus on the data to have
real quality data unbiased data as much
and bias as possible in order to leave
companies to bring llms or other models
to to the region so I don't have the
answer right now but basically those are
the areas that that we believe are going
to be critical in following years that's
interesting so you you brought in we
we've had one type of bias and that's
the the owner of the technology and the
way they you brought in the bi a couple
of biases one is the biased uh data and
then the other is the biased model all
of which can distort educational
outcomes Etc and then Regulators can
focus on the models or just Pro and and
to create in themselves or just getting
the best unbiased data set if there is
such a thing and make that available to
the private sector interesting which
brings if I may add just one thing there
a cultural bias I mean trying to bring a
single model that works for every single
country in this case Latin America
doesn't make any sense yes uh you know
each has a different approach to
knowledge to understanding to learning
uh which brings also additional issues
yes
okay want to take a shot at the uh role
of Education AI in in global inequities
and yes definitely I think um AI um um
now starting to give us ideas about how
to approach education a very different
way and I think we all experienced that
uh when we started dealing with SH gbt
in a question answer kind of shat uh
educational experience and how that's
very different from reading a book when
you reading a book everything is linear
the author already organized the topics
for you here when you shatting the
system you ask question get answer that
invoke your curiosity to ask another
question so it open a door for uh
problem solving oriented curiosity based
learning which is a fundamental way of
doing learning if you look at thousand
year ago and how learning was done it
was like that it's not was not
curriculum based learning that that we
have established in the last 200 years
it was mainly problem solving curiosity
based learning and now ai will enable
that uh and in a global and and scalable
way um uh so so now comes many many
questions uh in terms of how educational
institution which have been really
focused on curriculum based Mass
certificate given uh institution uh will
transform um in terms of these new ways
of of new and old ways of of of learning
and um and what um what the role of uh
AI in this institution and what's the
role of AI uh in IND
outside this institution but also comes
all the question about um
um um AI hallucination uh is the data or
the outcome that AI give you is really
correct or not what are the sources
these coming from all these are unsolved
problem in terms of AI at these point
and and that limits its use of
Education um but there are many many
other um uh issues as well we mentioned
the biases here which I um I hear a lot
about talking about bias in AI however
we don't really um confess that the
issue of bias exist in our education
system and culture system way before the
AI I mean we who who decide which
textbook we are using and what's go
inside that textbook to start with I
mean that has nothing to do with AI um
and and um is one big issue I can talk
about in details but this is one of the
fundamental issues yes
I think that's you're right I think
we're recognizing that even outside of
AI there there's implicit and bias and
and structural inequities built into
many things that we ignored previously
that are becoming very uh poignant as
the technology can exacerbate those yeah
and that's interesting so you you made
the statement that PRI previously
education was more of an exchange
questions and answers between Socrates
and his students in Greece or something
or today it's limited to Elite schools
where you can have a tutor that you have
your conversation with and but you're
arguing that the AI can then
reinvigorate and make that available
globally that same kind of dialogic
approach to education yes interesting
interesting uh do you know of any
organizations that are already
practicing that or is that just
something no I I I try to practice that
in my classes um like I mean um when uh
CHT came came around uh and I'm teaching
AI for undergrad course uh uh I supposed
to teach about these kind of things so
my first assignment to them is that you
sh DBT and and try to ask ask questions
and uh that they cannot answer or push
to the limits yes so that was very nice
experience because stud had to really
figure out what kind of question they
ask and keep uh pushing and and figure
out what is the limitation of these
systems um and again uh this semester I
was teaching course about computer
vision and Chad gbt came with another
version where uh you can now put an
image and and and answer a question so I
since that's a core of my course I
challenge them also to to see what are
the limit of this system put an image
start to ask question and see what kind
of answer they giving and what kind of
images they cannot answer or cannot
inere about um so I find fascinating to
use this kind Tools in classrooms um but
I'm I don't have a clear idea about how
this can be a part of a systematic way
of learning um I know for example um in
the last few years people have
introduced other Technologies like
YouTube um and in have this inverted
classroom kind of uh Concepts yes but
now how that evolve now with AI because
again when you look at YouTube uh
learning I mean everything's in YouTube
Right lots of lecture about anything uh
but again it's linear system you
basically it's like the same as reading
a book except they have many many
choices yes and so AI is is to different
from that and and um but for a student
who doesn't know what to look for uh
that's becoming a problem and that's the
role of universities when or schools
when you put a curriculum and and and
and lineup of topics and things like
that and and that's the Dilemma how can
we Bridge these two things these two
paradigms of teaching yes no no I I can
I'm thinking about how I might go back
to myself to the class and say you know
I don't know we're going to learn about
the uh Spanish Civil War or or the art
of balasz and then you put students in
groups and each they ask questions in Ai
and they try to compile compile some
kind of understanding and then the
professor orchestrates some kind of
overall integration of what they
discovered I can imagine all kinds of
experiments and models along that that
line if I may add that please probably
some of you already know it but I think
it's interesting I come from the
publishing industry and that's a typ
topic of discussion for at least the
last 15 years which is the Gutenberg
parenthesis uh this idea that so the
Gutenberg parenthesis parth okay yeah
the basic idea is that the way we learn
the way we understand the way we uh
model our world was changed like 500
years ago when the printed machine came
MH before that we learned in many
different ways in totally different ways
and it seems that the parenthesis is
what part of the theory is that is being
closed now yes uh with different
Technologies and now with AI and I think
is related to what you were saying is
kind of this new way of maybe going back
up in one side of this Q&A and and
discussions and but on the other way
taking advantage of the technology that
we have now uh and and is is is is you
know there are papers that show that you
know we learn we model our brain in
terms of how we learn to read and write
and this may change in the future so I
find it really fascinating how we may be
entering maybe in a different world uh
in
the in the future yeah a little bit of
Back to the Future or something along
those
I I don't know if I share your
perspective that students are going to
be sitting there with AI really engaged
for any kind of um significant amount of
time maybe in we're really bad at
predicting how technology plays out so
it's just really a wondering for me but
I I wonder if in 10 years we'll be
looking back at this moment and saying
how did we think that that was going to
change fundamentally the way that
students learn about things um that they
don't necessarily love right there
there's some topics that students don't
love and the reasons why they end up
learning those things is because they
have a loving relationship with their
teacher and with the people around them
many years ago when I was running my
Organization for Refugee youth one of
the biggest challenges that we had was
um the SAT test uh to get into college
and it felt very unfair
because all the studies show that test
scores are really closely related you
probably know this to income and that's
like the the biggest indicator of
success on on the test and that's
because a lot of these kids have private
tutors um and so here comes here comes
the College Board the organization that
creates the SAT and they partner up with
KH Academy and they had this big promise
to the world that we're going to change
the whole dynamic of this inequity and
all of these kids are going to be able
to have their own private tutor on this
KH Academy thing and it's all it's using
AI in different kind of ways a little
bit more uh instruct instructivist which
is like answer a question get another
question based on that and chat gbt is a
little bit different from that um but
what they ended up finding out and they
learned pretty quickly is that um
students from low income backgrounds
don't want to sit around on a computer
and just talk with it all day and I saw
this firsthand in my Academy it it was
like pulling teeth uh for the lack of a
better analogy with our kids they just
didn't want to do it and so then you
wonder why are the wealthy kids why are
they doing well it's because they're
being encouraged by these tutors they
have these relationships it's the social
Enterprise of learning that is there and
so I I think that um that's one
challenge that's there and KH Academy is
continuing to make all these uh promises
there's the I think it's called conmigo
if you go on the website another Google
search if you go on their website you'll
see things like have your own tutor have
your own pilot and it's actually not
that and I think it's I think it's a
little bit disingenuous and dishonest
because it's again I think following the
Playbook of what the College Board did
on the SAT test cuz it's not going to be
like having a tutor and I think that we
need to be realistic about what that
means but one one other thing that's
coming to mind about possible challenges
is everyone familiar with the term
hallucination here I think we're
starting to learn that word is basically
when chat gbt just makes something up
and sometimes they're really wild I I
was just doing a quick search on my
phone yesterday I think if you have an
Android WhatsApp has um uh has that
function there so I've been playing with
it a lot and and I just asked it what
did the Harvard president say about the
uh divestment movement of of for South
Africa in the 1980s and it said
something completely wild that the
president compared them to the clu clux
Clan I said I knew that that wasn't true
because I've been in this divestment
movement for a long time and I've never
heard that that wasn't true um and so
then I guess you wonder why are these
hallucinations happening if you're
someone who's learning code and it gives
you a false code and you're you're a
novice you're not going to know that
it's not true if you know what you're
doing you know this is not right he even
does basic arithmetic wrong as well um
and i' I've experienced that when I was
trying to use that to kind of uh surpass
certain uh cognition that I was not
interested in doing um and so I I I
think these are some of the the issues
that we have and so well-resourced
schools are going to have a lot more
time to teach young people about how to
discern how to make decisions about
these how to you know do what we call uh
prompt engineering and students at
schools that are less funded that have
less ability to do that kind of guidance
um those students are going to be you
know the the the object of these
Technologies in ways that we cannot
predict um and so that that's what
that's some of the things that I'm
thinking about right now that feel a
little bit precarious I think no that's
very good um so I'm gonna we'll open it
up to some questions the audience so be
thinking if you have a question um so
yes you you've again nailed
again there there exists these biases
and inequities um in the educational
system without AI right and I um and I I
experienced it when I was I went to
California public school um and I
remember being at my friend's house and
their friend's father would come in and
say you guys should be studying the
smart kids are studying right now and
then I moved my kids to um the greater
Washington DC area where there's the
highest concentration of advanced
degrees everyone there works for the
World bank and they have a PhD or so um
of course that has an influence on the
kids and so my problem was and that my
my kids wouldn't study is they wouldn't
stop studying because of all of their
friends were studying completely I had
to go upstairs and say stop studying
come down and watch Game of Thrones with
me you know um come play fun so um and
it speaks exactly to that and it you
know it doesn't it it wasn't
intellectual capability or potential it
was the environment in which they f
found themselves and um you know that
that environment motivated them by their
peers and by the system to be um excel
in education in ways that in my
environment we weren't encouraged to do
it's what non chomsy calls the luxury of
leisure yes right that money that
provides those opportunities to happen
that's right yeah and then the question
then again AI we've heard some
possibilities that it will minimize or
or lower these barriers because one of
the things about the technology unlike
say an autom or something is if you can
get access to the internet which is not
Universal yet but you can have access
then to these models so in that sense it
could democratize access in way other
Technologies in the past haven't but
then again how they're used the
environment in which they're used is
consequential yeah I I think I think
we'll find with AI what we found in many
other Technologies right when I think 10
years ago when mukes came out those
massive online courses they said this is
going to democratize learning and and I
don't really think that it did um and so
so there's a lot of these kind of
platitudes that are happening right now
and um yeah I I lost the plot in my
thinking but we'll come back to it well
we're we're we're spread we're traveling
a lot space so does anyone have any
questions we're yes go right ahead so so
I don't have a microphone but I'll speak
loud just to propel a little bit the
conserv so I I get your point regarding
usal assistance to support
personaliz now I think it's it's also
important to keep in the ra that this
we're at the very early
stages um I do believe honestly that in
a few years every student is going to
have a
c theep you go into not only the areas
of opportunity from an academic
perspective for a particular student but
also how the student learns
I think at that point maybe I'm but I
truly think that we're about to the
disruption and the driver is going to be
vir assist
that um so I guess kind of I I I just
wanted to stimulate
controvers I believe there are going to
be other ethical aspects that will
we'll be discussing in a few years today
we're talking maybe about um can we use
from a privacy perspective the data to
truly know how you learn that's a bit
controversy but that's going to change
when we consider privacy the kids today
it's a different concept of privacy so
that's number one and and and when we
talk about the future we'll see and
there's a book called AI 241 I don't
know if anyone has seen it there's
and there are issues like
How Deeply personally involved the
student could get with these assists
they become their
friends
boyfriends the person that you tell your
secret and that's a different I think
it's a way deeper eal
implication discussing today wanted to a
little bit of okay so for the for the
people that couldn't hear um the
question was uh broad but uh was the
idea of personalization in education
through the virtual Assistance or AI
agents um and that opens up
opportunities that we similar to what
we've discussed but there was also then
ethical questions around the information
needed to personalize that there's
questions of privacy around that and
then also questions about what kind of
relationships uh students are going to
create with these virtual assistance and
what the implications of that so as if
we didn't have enough ethical concerns
to discuss let's uh toss that out to our
panel if I may answer one of your your
comments I I found it really
interesting
um using the systems that you mentioned
is going to force us to be very critical
with how we understand those systems
themselves so let me put you a very a
very simple example uh one of the
companies I built in in in
2018 uh did um use Ai and statistics to
understand how people read how people
were reading books and listening to
audio books and things like this so we
had these models and these things one of
the things we always had to explain to
our customers and in order for them to
put into into the privacy policy is that
uh nobody understood and maybe now this
is obvious but I can tell you in 2018 it
wasn't obvious is that if I know what
you read I'm going to understand your
sexual preferences your religious
beliefs I'm going to understand so much
about you and it wasn't taken as as U
personal information uh so for many of
some of our customers I wouldn't say
many but some person were like well
we're just we're just seeing how people
read books no no no no uh even by
knowing where you stop reading I can
infer what are your interests and this
was just a small very small boutique
company for very small very very
specific uh education related uh uh
stuff uh what we can have now in terms
of and this is one of my my fears is
when you have a huge model that is going
to be used as the operating system for
Access or for for for for many people to
access that information uh any small
mistake there small uh Cave there can
affect uh lots of people and that's
gonna that's I think that's going to be
one of the challenges there that that
you and I are going to have in the in
the near future so that's very
interesting and already now it's uh
Amazon supposedly with their data about
you're purchasing they can predict
things like women's fertility or they
can even predict the way you will behave
even though you don't believe you behave
that way right
you so um we're gonna this will be we're
coming to the end here we have about
five more minutes so let's just follow
this line and and uh either one of you
if you want to take a shot at that
question about the virtual agents and
something else to say on that yeah I
just I want to follow up on that I mean
obviously there's no answer this is the
open question open uh I just want to um
take this into the next level which is
the role of Technology have been in the
last um since invention of the brand to
the invention of the internet uh to now
ai is is giving access to knowledge
right that's basically uh it's so 30
years ago if you are living in a world
third world country don't have access to
knowledge other than local library the
internet allow us to have access uh so
it's opportunity an AI will allow more
access and that lead us to the
fundamental question of what is
education what when you go to school
what are you looking for if you have
Global access to knowledge um why going
to school and that go back to your point
which is basically about the SAT exam
it's it's really about um uh motivation
and and uh uh coaching and uh uh
teaching students um who doesn't want to
learn basically who doesn't see the
motivation why you learn so that's why
they go to school and and we kind of
push them through that um and this is
fundamental thing that AI cannot
solve
so not the problem of AI I mean it's a
problem of how we motivate kids to learn
or even ourself to learn
basically because that's going to change
maybe I don't know I think for person
who are motivated AI would be a great
opportunity because it give them access
to Global Knowledge but for for for kids
who are not not motivated enough it's
our job as Educators to to to give them
these skills to how to motivate them and
how to make teach them how to be
perseverance and and how to do critical
uh thinking these are the basic things
that we need to teach our kids because
the knowledge is is already now
accessible and and we can get aners
themselves so um I think AI will help us
really re understand the role of
Education all together in the future can
I give a counter example really fast yes
we might be so I've seen examples of AI
being used for autistic kids to to
motivate them very
specifically um and they are successful
yeah
and there's a lack of access to
institutions
for this
ISF maybe yes yes amazing but I'm I
agree with you the role of the teacher
has to keep involving coaching
supporting and okay well and that it
comes back to the the much of the
ethical questions here is that we don't
know how people are going to use the
technology we don't know necessarily
what the technology will do um we are
still at the very beginning uh and one
thing about technology it especially
digital Technologies they are
commercialized they are ubiquitous in
society and we only find out the
unintended consequences the ethical and
moral considerations often after the
fact after they're already ubiquitous so
this will be a ation that will continue
here in this forum and in the world
going forward I'd like to thank all of
the panelists and everyone who attended
this session um and I believe is it
break time or is it okay and we have a
break and uh if you have questions for
the panelists I I guess they'll stick
around okay thank you all thank you did
a really great
job makes a big difference one the facil
really good job app how you I will take
that to heart thank
you it was you guys I don't know how
they decided to put I had no
idea I think AI decided cuz they said
that they decided all the topics so
maybe they did that as
well I know it's AIT
weird I'm in Cal in San Diego San
Diego yeah man able to live in San Diego
for a long time right now you're in in
DC in DC not a bad place to be no no I
said if be
theost I hear you I hear
you man that that was great my brother I
appreciate you man
this
Browse More Related Video
GEF Madrid 2024: AI's role in Student Wellbeing
GEF Madrid 2024: Panel: Students's view of the Future on Education
GEF Madrid 2024: Navigating AI Legal Frontiers
GEF Madrid 2024: Globalising Education with AI
GEF Madrid 2024: Reporting the Future: The Impact of AI on Education Journalism
Panel: The Importance of AI-Literacy for AI in Education
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)