Will ai literacy soon become as important a subject to teach in schools as reading, writing and mathematics?
Many educational leaders think so, as ChatGPT and other new generative ai tools enter daily life. After all, it's not every day that a technology comes along that is widely technology/4024394-microsoft-president-compares-ai-to-invention-of-printing-press/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>compared to printing in terms of how influential it could be.
And a push is emerging to bring ai literacy to schools and universities. In fact, it is a rare issue that has bipartisan support. Last month, two members of Congress: Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Delaware, and Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind. — technology/bipartisan-bill-in-congress-seeks-to-help-schools-teach-ai-literacy/2023/12″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>presented a bill called the “artificial intelligence Literacy Act” that would add funding for ai literacy efforts to an existing digital equity law. And in October, the White House issued a executive order which attempts to set standards for ai safety, including around ai's role in transforming education.
But what exactly is ai literacy? The technology is still in a volatile stage of development, with competitive offerings from both tech giants and upstart players. And there are thorny, unresolved ethical questions about how much and when it is appropriate for a robot to perform tasks that were previously thought to be only things humans could or should do.
There is also the question of how ai literacy fits into efforts to teach coding skills in schools. After all, one of the biggest applications of generative ai so far is using tools to write computer code.
We delve into these topics in this week's EdSurge podcast, where we hear from two experts working to expand educational efforts around ai, to ensure those efforts reach traditionally underserved communities, and to work to expand engagement with the issues. ethics of technology.
Those guests are:
- Susan Gonzales, who founded the nonprofit AIytu to spread ai literacy. She is a member of President Biden's National ai Advisory Committee and co-author of the 2022 World Economic Forum report, “A Blueprint for Inclusion in ai.”
- Leo Lo, a professor of library and learning sciences at the University of New Mexico, who recently led a survey of librarians about the need to address ethical and privacy concerns raised by ai. He is president-elect of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Gonzales brings the perspective of someone who used to work in big tech and served as director of policy and community engagement at Facebook for five years.
For her, a big concern is overcoming the fear of tools or the feeling that they are too complicated to learn. After all, she says, if educators haven't worked with tools like ChatGPT firsthand, they won't be able to teach their students effectively.
“What is needed most, especially in education, is to awaken curiosity to learn more about ai,” he argues.
