You may have seen an artificially generated video conversation between Mr Bill Gates and Socrates. In this “conversation”, Mr Gates spruiks the benefits of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in completing mundane educational tasks, while Socrates wonders whether using AI will result in students losing the ability to think critically and creatively.

The advantages and limitations of AI were also the focus of a recent article by Mr David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Mr Carvalho writes about the rise of AI and its implications for education. He concludes that in the future, “ethical understanding, personal and social capability, intercultural understanding, and critical and creative thinking, are going to be more and more important.” These capabilities will supplement skills in reading, writing, numeracy and digital literacy.

We certainly have been thinking about the implications of AI for teaching and learning at Meriden. Last week, Miss Nicola Casaceli, Coordinator of Learning Link – Technology, attended a conference on AI and education. In her report to Meriden’s Heads of Department, Miss Casaceli referred to the work of Professor Rose Luckin who addressed the following issues:

• Using AI in education to tackle some of the big educational challenges.
• Educating people about AI so that they can use it safely and effectively.
• Changing education so that we focus on human intelligence and prepare people for an AI world.

Rather than ban AI, we are working on using it in age-appropriate settings. We envision a future where AI can help facilitate learning at an individual pace, preparing students for higher-order thinking tasks delivered by teachers – Socrates would be pleased!