UK Teachers Step Up To Tackle AI Concerns

While European lawmakers continue to take steps toward finalizing the Western world’s first set of artificial intelligence (AI) rules, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Educational leaders in U.K. schools continue to express their concerns over AI’s ultra-fast growth. 

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Rather than wait for new laws to be put into effect, these educational leaders are taking matters into their own hands by forming an advisory board on AI and the risks it poses to schools. 

AI: A Growing Concern In Schools

Since the release of ChatGPT last year, students around the world — not just in the U.K. — have found ways to use the technology to complete coursework. This includes everything from researching and writing term papers to answering complex math equations. 

Earlier this month in a letter to The Times of London, eight leading educators — including chiefs of preparatory schools such as Epsom College, Magdalen College School and Wellington College — expressed concerns about the risks of AI in educational settings as well as the potential for the technology to be useful to both students and teachers.

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"As leaders in state and independent schools, we regard AI as the greatest threat but also potentially the greatest benefit to our students, staff and schools. Schools are bewildered by the very fast rate of change in AI and seek secure guidance on the best way forward, but whose advice can we trust?" the teachers wrote in the letter to The Times. 

The group also explained that they don’t have confidence that large digital companies will regulate themselves with the best interests of schools in mind. That’s in addition to a government that hasn’t always been willing to take the necessary action.

"We are thus announcing today our own cross-sector body composed of leading teachers in our schools, guided by a panel of independent digital and AI experts, to advise schools on which AI developments are likely to be beneficial and which damaging," the teachers added.

In the near future, this group of educators will launch a website to provide guides on the potential positive and negative impacts of AI on the future of education. 

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