How should we be thinking about Generative AI in Education?
UNESCO has produced a useful premier on Generative AI in education and what issues should be guiding our thinking about it.
Some things are written so well that I feel like the only proper thing to do is to quote them directly, like this scene:
Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline are amazing in this scene, due in no small part to the amazing writing. Well, UNESCO has recently released their “Guidance for generative AI in education and research” and it has a bunch of equally-great quotes, like this one:
“…a thematic set of guidance on GenAI for education should not be understood as a claim that GenAI is the solution to education’s fundamental challenges. Despite the media hyperbole, it is unlikely that GenAI alone will solve any of the problems facing education systems around the world. In responding to long-standing educational issues, it is key to uphold the idea that human capacity and collective action, and not technology, is the determining factor in effective solutions to fundamental challenges faced by societies.”
I love the focus on human capacity and collection action, which is reinforced later, also:
“The 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence provides the requisite normative framework to start addressing the multiple controversies around generative AI, including those that pertain to education and research. It is based on a human-centred approach to AI which advocates that the use of AI should be at the service of the development of human capabilities for inclusive, just and sustainable futures. Such an approach must be guided by human rights principles, and the need to protect human dignity and the cultural diversity that defines the knowledge commons.”
Human-centered (or centred, depending upon where you’re living) AI, focused on what actual real-live people need and should do with AI, is precisely what many people in the field have been arguing for (see here and here). So, I’m thrilled to see it here. Overall, the UNESCO guidance document is super-useful, with clear explanations of what GenAI is, the current status of GenAI and education, and implications for educators, students, and policy makers. Definitely worth checking out.