The Future Isn’t Automated Yet: Ethics for AI in Schools

As we become increasingly familiar with the foibles of AI (in the classroom and elsewhere) it’s evident that it’s not turning our lives into some sort of bucolic, techno-utopia - not yet, at least. That global four day workweek hasn’t arrived and instead there are job cuts, a vast increase in bland, uninspired content and AI chatbots that deliver a non-existent ‘edge’ in the workplace. 

From an educational perspective, we’re beginning to see a divide between a rush to the bottom in AI gamification while true ‘intellectual exchange’ is reserved for the elite. Daisy Christodolou writes of a stupidogenic society, in which cognitive offloading via AI could lead to diminishment in basic skills - numeracy, literacy etc that are the springboards to more advanced thought.

If AI makes surface level thinking easier and more efficient, does it mean that thinking is becoming shallower?

This is not to say I don’t value the use of a resource that proofreads content and can give me some constructive feedback without me bothering a colleague. When nuance and criticality go out the window, something fundamental is lost. Christodolou writes:  

“if your goal is to get a task done quickly, you should definitely use technology.

If your goal is to develop your skills, you shouldn’t.”

Using AI ethically and with integrity is the challenge, then. 

Assessment bodies have responded.The IB has released pretty cohesive guidance, closely followed by Pearson and CIE. The message is clear: future education needs to equip students to deal with platforms competently and ethically. 

The real challenge isn’t technological at all, but a cultural one as we resist the temptation to equate efficiency with learning/thinking. If we can teach students (and ourselves) to use AI with curiosity, restraint, and integrity, it could enhance - rather than erode - our intellectual life

That’s the intent behind the attached draft AI policy: to begin a discussion around how discernment needs to be at the forefront of modelling and teaching effective AI use.

AI Use Policy.pdf

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