Education and AI

You don’t need to go far to hear about uses of Artificial Intelligence. ChatGPT can phone a shop and place an order for you. Elon Musk is touting his Optimus robot and CyberCab. The University of Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology is even using AI to allow visitors to speak with its animal exhibits.

AI has incredible benefits and presents great opportunities for educational institutions – but it also presents risks. You should ensure you are aware of the risks and address them.

The risks of AI in educational settings

• Academic integrity: students can use AI tools, such as generative AI, to produce coursework and solve assignments. Unchecked, they might even be able to cheat during exams. You need to make sure you maintain academic integrity. Confirm that it is the student’s own work and not that of an AI tool
• GDPR breaches: educational institutions collect large amounts of personal data from students and their staff. Using an AI tool might lead to efficiencies. However, it might also give rise to a breach of GDPR. For example, AI might be used to profile and select potential students and staff
• Bias and discrimination: AI algorithms can perpetuate biases present in the data they are trained on. This can lead to unfair treatment of students in admissions, grading, or other administrative processes
• Cybersecurity: bad actors can exploit AI to create sophisticated cyber-attacks, making your networks and data more vulnerable. Security has always been a game of cat-and-mouse and AI will likely speed this up
• Job replacement: the automation of administrative tasks through AI could lead to great efficiencies. It might also lead to job losses or significant changes in job roles for staff
• Ethics: the use of AI in research and decision-making raises ethical questions. These include the transparency of AI decisions and the potential misuse of AI technologies
• IP: using AI to produce content for teaching might lead to infringement of intellectual property rights. Authors such as John Grisham and George RR Martin claim that ChatGPT infringes their works.

How can educational institutions address the risks posed by AI?

Educational institutions need to address these risks to ensure AI is used responsibly and beneficially.

1. Adapt robust policies to cover the use of AI
2. Implement ethical guidelines
3. Address AI in the terms with students for the registration process
4. Assess and address data processing
5. Set up a continuous monitoring process
6. Review contract terms with AI providers.