The Artificial Intelligence effect: pouring new wine into old wineskins

I'm not really sure why I chose this title...perhaps it's because a friend once said it during a conversation about AI and its potential impact on society. More and more we are asked to look at the impact and potential dangers it holds for Education and that more research need to be done around it. There are already plenty of publications around ChatGPT especially as most academics are concerned about plagiarism and the validation of knowledge and rightfully so. My concern is that text-based AI seem to be the focus at the moment as it appears that it is what is predominantly being valued by academia as knowledge. Perhaps it could be that it also appears to be the most accessible to users thus far.

Accessibility, according to a classroom survey and based on conversations with lecturers, is a another concern expressed by both academics and students. Factors that influence access, like cost, awareness and know-how is paramount and will all contribute to the expansion of the digital divide especially in an unequal society like South Africa.

My problem with AI is that while it holds much potential for good, the potential for bad where education is concerned far outweighs the good. Non of the tech developers consult society to hear whether the direction they are taking is what society should be doing. The big tech company's main drive is financial gain and education at the moment seems to have to deal with the fall out. Our response is to make the best of a bad situation because what other options do we have? AI is fast infiltrating every aspect of our daily lives. It is disrupting education but for most part our response is to want to continue teaching in the same way we always have and mitigate the impact of AI. To my mind it is tantamount to trying to put new wine into old wine-skin. Our current systems aren't set up to deal with teaching and learning with AI. We'll have to teach differently and assess differently. What we value as knowledge will have to change if information will always be at your fingertips. What impact will AI have on the role of universities in society and can universities survive playing the same role as they always did?

Most articles, webinars and reports I have looked at cautions against the overindulgence on AI and the issue of ethics is always raised. That AI should be used as a productivity tool rather than treated as the definitive answer to questions you might have. In addition users should not rely on AI like ChatGPT for answers when there is a need to value personal skills. When students are asked to engage in assignments which ask them to specifically use AI to determine it impact  it changes the motive with which students are making use of the tool and its results does not reflect reality when one is interested to discover when students use AI with the aim of passing an assignment. How can we therefore rust such reports? Moreover, there's not long-term studies on the effect of AI (ChatGPT) on competency levels of students. Our gut tells us that with so many shortcuts available to students that there is a strong chance that there will be less opportunities to develop skills that require long-term focus and rigor. We will therefore need to find or create other opportunities for it.  I have a feeling that we are still in the romantic phase of AI adoption. We can see the potential pitfalls but choose to focus on the positive to remain hopeful? or could it be that we are just singing along with the rest of the choir?

AI presents itself as the ultimate assistant to simplify our lives by taking care of the mundane more laborious tasks and free us up to do the "fun" and exciting work. Surely that is what we all want!? We can increase our productivity. But is that all that we are about as people? Productivity? Is that all that universities should be developing? If not then surely we should be more critical about AI in terms of its effect on us as academics, students and society at large. With the pandemic it became clear for example how much we needed social contact. An aspect of our daily interactions that we regarded as a complete waste of time when we were stuck in our offices only to realize that the corridor talk is an essential part of of what makes us human and allows us to live longer. How many things will we realize later the value of having only to discover that it's gone forever. Instead of doing research on AI and its impact on Education we need to look closer at the things that make us uniquely human and how we can preserve it in a fast-changing world where one worth is so closely linked to what it is you can offer.

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