It is a real sign of my age that when I started my teaching career, the world wide web was a new thing; search engines were cutting edge. Schools were speculating about whether we were on the cusp of a ‘post knowledge age’, where nobody would have to know anything because they could just look it up.
I had started my own school days about the time calculators were first becoming widespread. Perhaps we no longer need to know maths because machines would do it for us.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just the latest technology for domsters and optimists alike. Both calculators and search engines have had massive impacts: just not quite in the way anyone predicted. Machines have relieved us of the requirement to know things or to think with numbers. They do massively assist with both however.
The speculation around AI, particularly generative AI. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, has speculated that humans will no longer be needed for most things. Stephen Hawkings has hedged his bets, declaring that AI would either be the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity.
The reality is, that like calculators and the internet, it won’t go away; and schools behaving like it is 1965 for the rest of eternity won’t cause it to disappear. It is already a part of our lives, and this will only increase whether we think well or badly of it.
Yesterday, I went to the annual conference of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS). One of their speakers was Judy Robertson, professor of computer science at Edinburgh University, who just finished a report into AI in schools for the Scottish government. She found that AI is already being extensively used across the globe. It was particularly effective in assisting students with reading and research. It was a great conversation partner when learning a language or a debater when thinking through new ideas. AI helped organise revision and expanded the possibilities in brainstorming.
However, Professor Robertson found it was not always the most reliable partner: only 35% of the AI paragraphs she analysed were without mistakes. It lacked up to date content and encoded human biases; its conceptual knowledge had to be built by humans. He couldn’t help students build a sense of self, to make art, play music or play outside. Students who used it regularly in their studies still wanted human teachers.
ISA recognises that schools learn from the past, but face the future: that is where our students are destined to live. We have developed an artificial intelligence, and started piloting its use by teachers. We know students have been using it for a while, and want to make sure that we are in a position to help them use it responsibly. As with previous technologies, we may not know exactly where the journey will take us, but we are determined to walk it well.
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