UNESCO-Geneva: The initial sections of the UNESCO Guidance elucidate the workings and definition of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Subsequent sections delve into the contentious aspects of Generative AI and its repercussions in the field of education, particularly in exacerbating digital disparities. Presently, ChatGPT models are trained on data sourced from online users, primarily reflecting the values and prevailing social norms of the Global North.
Age Restriction of 13
The UNESCO Guidance outlines seven pivotal steps for governments to swiftly enact regulations for Generative AI and establish ethical frameworks for its educational and research utilization. This includes the adoption of global, regional, or national standards for data protection and privacy. Additionally, the guidance advocates imposing an age restriction of 13 for the deployment of AI tools within classrooms and emphasizes the necessity of teacher training on this subject.
Building on UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the 2019 Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence in Education, this guidance underscores the importance of human agency, inclusivity, equity, gender parity, and cultural and linguistic diversity. Furthermore, it addresses concerns raised during UNESCO's inaugural global ministerial roundtable on Generative AI held in May 2023.
Launch on September 7
The official release of the guidance is scheduled for UNESCO's headquarters during UNESCO's Digital Learning Week, which gathers over 1000 participants to deliberate on themes such as public digital learning platforms and Generative AI in education. Distinguished speakers include:
Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Yoshua Bengio, Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the Université of Montreal and the Founder and Scientific Director of Mila – Québec Artificial
Intelligence Institute, 2018 A.M. Turing Award laureate
Yann LeCun, Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Meta
Daniel Andler, Mathematician and Philosopher, Member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques and Professor Emeritus, Sorbonne Université, France
Governance Void in Classroom Usage of Gen AI
Generative AI garnered widespread attention in November 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, becoming the fastest-growing app in history. With the capability to generate text, images, videos, music, and software codes, Generative AI tools have profound implications for education and research. However, the education sector remains largely unprepared to ethically and pedagogically integrate these rapidly evolving tools. According to a recent UNESCO global survey involving more than 450 schools and universities, less than 10% of these institutions have established institutional policies or formal guidance pertaining to the use of Generative AI applications. This deficiency is primarily attributed to the absence of national regulations.
In June 2023, UNESCO issued a stark warning regarding the swift and unchecked implementation of Generative AI in schools, emphasizing the absence of adequate public scrutiny, oversight, and regulatory measures. The organization released a report revealing that obtaining authorizations for publishing a new textbook is more rigorous than the oversight applied to the use of Generative AI tools in educational settings.
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