Session
Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Emerging Technologies
Chat GPT, Generative AI, and Machine Learning
Future & Sustainable Work in the World of Generative AI
Organizer 1: Ihita Gangavarapu, 🔒
Organizer 2: Bolutife Oluyinka Adisa, 🔒
Organizer 3: Purnima Tiwari , 🔒
Organizer 4: Osei Manu Kagyah, Ghana Youth IGF
Speaker 1: Dunola Oladapo, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Connie Man Hei Siu, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Osei Manu Kagyah, Civil Society, African Group
Ihita Gangavarapu, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Bolutife Oluyinka Adisa, Civil Society, African Group
Purnima Tiwari , Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Round Table - 60 Min
1. What policies should be in place to ensure the responsible and ethical use of generative AI technologies in educational settings? 2. How can policymakers collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure that teaching and learning processes are enhanced while sustaining creativity, critical thinking and problem solving? 3. How can policymakers ensure that the use of generative AI by youth in education is inclusive, age-appropriate and aligned with their developmental needs and abilities?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Insights: The roundtable will bring together young students, educators, policymakers, industry experts, and researchers who will share their knowledge, experiences, and research findings. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the latest trends, best practices, and innovative approaches to using AI in educational settings. They will gain insights into where the field is heading, which can help them identify potential areas of innovation. It is expected to stimulate the engagement of youth leaders. Exposure to real-world examples: There will be exchange of real-world case studies and examples of AI implementation in educational settings. Attendees will learn about successful use cases and the impact of AI on student engagement, educational practices and need for intervention. These case studies will provide practical insights and inspire attendees to explore similar approaches in their institutions. Exposure to tools: Tools for content generation, coding and programming assistance, collaborative storytelling, and data-driven feedback mechanisms will be explored.
Description:
We are seeing a surge in AI-enabled applications across sectors. In education, one particular branch of AI, generative AI, is gaining attention for its potential to revolutionize teaching and learning practices. Generative AI, which encompasses algorithms capable of generating original content, promises personalised learning experiences and aims to improve educational outcomes. As with any powerful technology, multiple concerns surrounding its effective implementation in education exist. Some of them are concerns around limited understanding and dependence on technology, lack of control, algorithmic bias, and broadening of the digital divide, as it could potentially limit access for underfunded schools or districts. With experiences and perspectives differing across stakeholders of all age groups, this session explores the integration of generative AI technologies in educational settings and policies for effective implementation keeping the impact on youth and the future of learning and work in the forefront. The session will give participants insights into the potential benefits and challenges of incorporating generative AI into teaching and learning practices. Through an intergenerational and diverse roundtable, the discussion will bring together young students, educators, policymakers, industry experts, and researchers to also discuss the key factors and strategies for fostering effective collaboration. Additionally, the discussion will highlight the importance of digital literacy, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making in the context of generative AI for youth. Participants will leave the session with practical strategies, policy considerations, and resources to effectively leverage generative AI technologies, ensuring positive learning experiences that empower and support the growth and development of young individuals. The structure: Roundtable (60 minutes) Introduction and audience poll: 5 min Policy question to speakers: 10min Hybrid poll and audience intervention: 5 min Policy question discussion: 10 min Hybrid poll and intervention: 5 min Policy question to speakers: 10 min Q/A from the offline and online audience: 15 min
Expected outcomes: On ground experiences of stakeholders when developing, deploying and using generative AI based tools in education. Practical inputs from the youth on the way forward and required collaboration from the community for an effective implementation of the technology including leveraging the IGF community. Specific outcomes: Policy brief or report summarizing key findings, insights, and policy recommendations generated during the session will be shared widely with IGF participants, policy makers, and relevant stakeholders. The outcome of this event will be documented in the official report of Youth IGF India 2023, which is shared with the youth of India and the various bodies supporting the cause.
Hybrid Format: The structure: Roundtable (60 minutes) Introduction and audience poll: 5 min Policy question to speakers: 10min Hybrid poll and audience intervention: 5 min Policy question discussion: 10 min Hybrid poll and intervention: 5 min Policy question to speakers: 10 min Q/A offline and online audience: 15 min The session is designed such that onsite and online participants get enough opportunities for intervention throughout the session and not just towards the end. Use of polls (tools such as mentimeter) will ensure inputs in a hybrid format. In addition, before every discussion on a policy question, participants are given an opportunity to discuss the poll and share their interventions on the topic. Towards the end of the session, there is a live Q/A and discussion with everyone. In addition to the chat box, the online moderator will note requests of the online participants and inform the onsite moderator.
Report
Digital empowerment is a priority and especially GenAI has a lot of potential in academic curriculum for young minds. By enabling acess via audio inputs, translation tools etc, GenAI can amplify an individual’s potential and increase the learning outcomes. But there are some academic concerns like the accepted levels of plagiarism, the impact on critical thinking etc.
There is a strong need for strong cybersecurity measures: Use of GenAI by Youth and school students will require strong security and data privacy measures as it is prone to misuse. Privacy is a quintessential concern for a young person. By setting standards, sharing best global practices etc, we can successfully merge GenAI in education. It is a multifaceted challenge but the benefits outweigh the challenge.
Policymakers need to take on an inclusive approach which can make use of GenAI more global diverse and inclusive of ethnicities, races, and local contexts. Diverse datasets, newer user-centric approaches that go beyond Euro-centric models with privacy in design is welcome.
Educators need to collaborate with technical community, app developer, cybersecurity experts etc. to ideate on more inclusive GenAI
Link to the report (PDF Version): https://drive.google.com/file/d/16QC9suOkn4ZBNzpkta8xZZl-Gg5KW5dM/view?…
IGF 2023 WS #495 Next-Gen Education: Harnessing Generative AI
Ihita G. welcomed everyone and set the context by highlighting the relevance of Generative (Gen) AI in education, underlined it’s use in personalized learning. She added that use of Gen AI further increases the importance on critical thinking and digital literacy and invited interventions from audience which primarily constituted on concerns around plagiarism in academic pieces.
She introduced the speakers and invited Ms. Dunola Oladapo, a representative of inter-governmental organization to explore GenAI’s role in education. Ms. Oladapo argued that Digital empowerment is a priority for the youth. Covid 19 was a definitive moment for the history. The digital access is not uniform and about 55% of youth in Africa don’t have access to Internet. It has a multifold impact – lack of affordable devices, high internet costs etc. are some challenges which restricts young people to participate in a connected future with others.
She shared ITU’s Generation Connect platform’s work on AI for Good– that it focusses on how young people are connecting with AI and explores different ways by which power of technology can be harnessed for a connected digital future.
Ihita asked Connie Man Hei Siu and Osei Manu Kagyah (civil society) their opinions on responsible and ethical use of generative AI technologies in educational settings including algorithms, and the gaps that need to be addressed. Osei said that it’s an important conversation that’s long due as AI has impacted given that the industry is racing ahead of academia. He emphasized on the need for a human-centric approach and a mutual platform to address issues of accountability, bias and security of Generative AI in formal education.
Connie shared her insights and highlighted the importance to explore as GenAI as can knockdown long-standing barriers like language and make learning more inclusive via translations, audio inputs etc. GenAI can also help student by help in managing schedules, increase learning outputs, connect with peers and reduce the stress of multi-tasking. She explored the challenges by emphasizing on the misuse of the tech:
- higher degrees of reliance could hinder critical thinking skills of students
- given that it required a lot of data, it can compromise user’s privacy
- AI systems can inherit biases
She underlined the need to promote responsible usage and vigilance since technology isn’t inherently good or bad.
Ihita invited audience for interventions which featured concerns on the right kind of regulation, the need for an academic dialogue amongst PhD scholars and mentors on the extent of use of GenAI. Educators in the audience used example of calculator as a case wherein there was a possibility of hinderance of critical abilities but it further amplified mathematical models.
Ihita posed another question to the speakers - How can policymakers collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure that teaching and learning processes are enhanced while sustaining creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving?
Connie responded that policymakers required a thorough understanding on technology especially on leveraging GenAI’s power and safeguarding it. She suggested that it is important for policymakers to collaborate with stakeholders like students, teachers, academic institutions to understand the challenges. Further, to address challenges of data protection, and security infrastructure, the educators can team up with Teacher training institutes and tech companies. She highlighted that setting standards, sharing best practices globally can lead to successfully merging GenAI in education. It is a multifaceted challenge but the benefits outweigh the challenge.
Online moderator Adisa agreed with Connie and contributed that the curriculum needs to evolve to address real world challenge. Ihita said need to do more assessment with respect to the models and asked Osei to respond. He argued that there is a need to uncolonized the designs since the deployment of AI tools have reflected a bias.
Ihita posed the final policy question- How can policymakers ensure that the use of generative AI by youth in education is inclusive, age-appropriate and aligned with their developmental needs and abilities? She invited audience interventions on how can it be approached as a concern.
A teacher from Finland expressed concern on who will create an inclusive model for children – as the approach of educators is different than that of a profit-earning company as the goal of inclusivity and protection needs to be aligned with learning. Another teacher from Japan added that GenAI model is US centric and there is a need to explore the local contexts. Another audience member added that it’s not just about access to technology but also about knowledge e.g., the domestic context becomes important to understand what kind of data pool is being referred to. He referred to UNESCO’s open data report wherein the open science recommendation underlines knowledge sharing in sense of Global Commons.
Ihita approached speakers for their final comments. Osei emphasized on the need more of interventions from different languages to move away from Euro-centric approaches. Connie suggested the need for stronger data protection laws and added with critical digital literacy skills, young people will have better skills to navigate the digital spaces. Policymakers need to take inclusivity driven approach like Personalized learning experience, accommodating the linguistic diversity etc. into consideration. Ihita concluded that young people need to take a stand themselves and contribute in the decision-making processes themselves to make the best of GenAI. She thanked everyone for joining.