Download This Show is your weekly guide to the world of media, culture, and technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, like ChatGPT, present opportunities for greater efficiency in a variety of different sectors.<\/p>\n
And while AI’s ability to produce realistic, human-like content has long sparked concerns<\/a> about its impact on students’ learning, a framework exists in Australia to guide the responsible and ethical use of it<\/a> in ways that benefit students, schools, and society.<\/p>\n Tech giants have also accelerated their plans to embed generative AI in our education systems.<\/p>\n Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic recently announced<\/a> they were funding a $US23 million ($35 million) AI teaching hub in New York for educators, to help them learn how to better integrate AI tools in classrooms.<\/p>\n So could there be a future where generative AI is embraced in schools, more than it’s feared?<\/p>\n ‘Genie not going back in the bottle’<\/p>\n After ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI in November 2022, education departments across Australia swiftly banned its use by students<\/a>.<\/p>\n There were concerns that, due to the sophistication of the tool, it would be difficult to detect when students were using AI to plagiarise content<\/p>\n “Students have certainly taken to the technology very quickly. The concern, of course, is that this genie is not going back in the bottle,” David Braue, a technology journalist at Cybercrime Magazine, tells ABC Radio National’s Download This Show<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n When it comes to AI, teachers need to be aware of their obligations regarding data and the fairness of content, says David Braue.\u00a0 (Supplied: David Braue\u00a0)<\/p>\n The Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools<\/a> was released by the federal government in late 2023 to address the challenges and opportunities presented by these tools to teachers and students. There is a plan to review the framework annually.<\/p>\n But RMIT computing professor Michael Cowling says we need to consider the opportunities these tools present as well.<\/p>\n “When we first started talking about generative AI, we were very focused on academic integrity \u2026 that’s one component,” he says.<\/p>\n “But another is teaching the teachers what they can use this tool for effectively. In doing so, you help them to understand what it’s used for.<\/p>\n “And that means, ultimately, your students understand better what it’s useful for as well.”<\/p>\n South Australia’s use of AI in schools<\/p>\n While many Australian schools had banned generative AI use by 2023, the South Australian government took a different approach.<\/p>\n They were the first state to trial a generative AI chatbot they developed with Microsoft, called EdChat<\/a>.<\/p>\n EdChat is a generative AI chatbot tool that is customised for a school environment. The chatbot has access to the same data as ChatGPT, but it doesn’t send out user information.<\/p>\n Students and teachers prompt the tool by asking questions they’d like to learn more about.<\/p>\n Adelaide Botanic High School uses EdChat today, and principal Sarah Chambers says that she is grateful to be working in a school that engages with this issue differently.<\/p>\n Adelaide Botanic High School has embraced the generative AI tool, EdChat. \u00a0 (ABC Radio Adelaide: Laila Ferrier)<\/p>\n “I think the thing I appreciate about the approach is to not shy away from this challenge, to really look to the reality that this is a technology that will influence how we work, from now and into the future, because it’s not going anywhere,” she says.<\/p>\n “And to acknowledge that and create a tool that responds to some of the challenges that we do know exist around AI.”<\/p>\n Other challenges, besides plagiarism, include ensuring the security of students’ data and filtering content that is presented to students adequately.<\/p>\n The EdChat tool being used in South Australia includes safety features to address these challenges, including a content filter that the department says “blocks inappropriate requests”.<\/p>\n The challenges of teachers using AI<\/p>\n While generative AI is a challenge for educators, it’s not dissimilar to issues they have always faced.<\/p>\n “For teachers to design assessments of learning that are genuinely capturing a student’s growth is a high-level skill,” Ms Chambers says.<\/p>\n “We always have challenges around plagiarism and students using other sources \u2026 generative AI has just simply provided a more sophisticated tool for students to be able to do that.”<\/p>\n As Australian schools cautiously embrace AI tools, another challenge could be that teachers will rely on AI too much.<\/p>\n Professor Cowlings believes “it’s okay for [teachers] to be reliant on AI as long as they understand how to use it”.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mr Braue says that isn’t enough to safeguard against the risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Cowling says we need to be open to the opportunities AI can provide.\u00a0 (Supplied: Michael Cowling)<\/p>\n “Even if they know how to use it, they [teachers] may not be aware of their obligations for data protection,” he says.<\/p>\n Fairness of content is another issue schools must consider when it comes to AI applications, according to Mr Braue.<\/p>\n “We know that a lot of the AI models that are out there are biased in terms of gender and ethnicity \u2026 that is a reality for these models,” he says.<\/p>\n “So teachers need to be very aware that what they’re producing needs to be objectively looked at through these lenses\u2026 It can’t just be about getting stuff done faster.”<\/p>\n Do we need a national approach?<\/p>\n Following South Australia’s AI trial, several states and territories have announced their own, including Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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