Question
I have four children in full-time education, including my eldest at university. They are all using AI models in various ways in their studies.
To spend hours doing traditional academic work that can be generated by AI in seconds seems wasteful, but what learning is actually taking place nowadays – and what skills are young people acquiring in this new AI world?
Answer
What is the purpose of education in all its iterations, from being read to at bedtime as a young child, to completing research over several years at PhD level?
Education facilitates our acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies, enabling personal growth and development. It enhances critical thinking, creativity and communications skills.
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Learning in a collective structure through attending school/college plays a critical role in socialising us into our culture and wider society.
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Through the acquisition of knowledge in a collective space over a 15-20 year period from age two/three onwards, education prepares us for the world of work, giving us the skills and knowledge to participate successfully in a particular occupation.
By actively engaging in education from an early age, we also develop our critical thinking skills and cognitive abilities.
The problem which AI throws up is that it removes for young minds the requirement to plough through basic research, while the young still need to come up with answers to questions set by teachers or lecturers, or in formal examinations, for instance. In such scenarios, how can they acquire the skills to function effectively in the adult world?
It has been abundantly clear for many years now that children’s access to smartphone technology has significantly undermined their person-to-person communications skills, to the point where many employers are providing training in basic human-to-human communication to young employees. Schools which ban smartphones entirely on school premises are finding a huge improvement in basic communications skills among students.
The fear raised by your question is that, alongside losing communications skills due to smartphone technology found in every pocket, children accessing AI to complete their assignments will in later life lack the knowledge, skills and competencies to function effectively in the adult world.
Despite this, however, we cannot wish AI away – nor should we want to.
Take for example Aoibheann Daly, the 15-year-old winner of the Stripe Young Scientist and Technology award, who used her knowledge of science and AI to develop a brain cancer diagnostic tool which will potentially be of huge benefit to doctors treating cancer patients.
AI has massive potential to improve life on this planet, but our challenge is to integrate it into our lives and our education system in a way which facilitates our children in continuing to acquire life skills essential for effective living.
The challenge to all educators, therefore, is to integrate AI fully into how we plan teaching and learning, in a manner which develops the life skills that growing young minds require. That is no easy challenge, as it requires us to completely restructure both the delivery of content and the methodologies we use to assess learning.
This may prove to be hugely disruptive to those who felt themselves to be very comfortable and skilled at teaching in a pre-AI world, and who see the challenge as identifying and punishing those students who are using AI in their work presented for assessment purposes.
All of us involved in education must adapt to the AI world and devise curriculums which accept AI-generated content as a starting point in the learning process. We must devise methodologies, both in terms of delivery and assessment, which provide the current and future generation of learners with the skills to flourish in a smart technology and AI world.
- email: askbrian@irishtimes.com
