AI and Ethics in Education
The ethical and societal implications of AI, especially in education, are numerous and complex. When evaluating tools and technologies (adopting/incorporating or trying to detect AI), consider conducting a technoethical audit of the technologies under consideration. Introduced in 2019 by Daniel Krutka, Marie Heath, and K. Bret Staud Willet, a technoethical audit is a critical evaluation of the chosen technology. Such an audit explores whether it is ethical to use the technology and what potentially unfavorable outcomes might arise from its use in schools. A technoethical audit is guided by questions like these:
- How is the environment affected by this technology?
- Is the creation, design, and use of this technology just, particularly for minoritized or vulnerable groups?
- In what ways does this technology encourage and discourage learning?
Below are some issues to consider:
Accessibility and Equity: On the one hand, AI can help make education more accessible and personalized, enabling students to learn at their own pace and providing teachers with tools to identify areas where students are struggling. It could also create opportunities for students in remote areas or those who cannot attend school due to health issues or disabilities. However, on the other hand, not all students and schools have equal access to the technology and infrastructure needed for AI-based education. This digital divide can exacerbate educational inequalities.
Data Privacy and Security: AI systems in education often rely on collecting and analyzing large amounts of data about students. This raises questions about how this data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is used. There are risks of breaches of privacy and potential misuse of data.
Bias and Fairness: Like all AI systems, educational AI can be subject to bias, depending on how it's trained and what data it's trained on. For instance, an AI tutoring system could potentially favor certain types of students over others, based on the data it was trained with. This could perpetuate existing biases and inequalities.
Teacher-Student Relationship: While AI can automate some tasks, it cannot replace the human interaction and emotional support provided by teachers. There are concerns that over-reliance on AI could erode the teacher-student relationship and the social skills students develop in the classroom.
Skill Development: As AI and automation become increasingly integrated into the workforce, there is a need to ensure education systems are adequately preparing students with the skills they will need for the future. This includes not just technical skills for working with AI, but also soft skills like critical thinking and creativity that AI is currently not able to replicate.
Transparency and Understanding: It's important for students, parents, and educators to understand how AI tools make decisions. Unfortunately, many AI systems are "black boxes" where the decision-making process is opaque. This can make it hard to trust the system or to challenge its decisions.
Regulation and Policy: Given all these issues, there is a clear need for regulation and policies to guide the use of AI in education. These regulations need to address issues like data privacy, transparency, and equity. However, policy-making in this area is complex and needs to strike a balance between protecting students and enabling innovation.
All these issues underline the need for an interdisciplinary approach to AI in education, incorporating not just technological expertise, but also input from educators, psychologists, sociologists, ethicists, and legal experts.
Assignments and Privacy Policies
Before assigning students to work on projects involving AI chatbots, make sure to review the privacy policy of the tool(s) you've selected. Also consider what benefit you may be providing the developer by requiring your students to conduct free labor to improve the tool's algorithm.
OpenAI (the company that designed ChatGPT) collects a lot of data from ChatGPT users.
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The privacy policy states that this data can be shared with third-party vendors, law enforcement, affiliates, and other users.
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Do NOT provide a student’s full name and associated class grade to ChatGPT to write emails, this is a potential FERPA violation (in the United States) for sharing a student’s educational record (with OpenAI) without their permission.
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This tool should not be used by children under 13 (data collection from children under 13 violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule - COPPA).
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While you can request to have your ChatGPT account deleted, the prompts that you input into ChatGPT cannot be deleted. If you, or your students, were to ask ChatGPT about sensitive or controversial topics, this data cannot be removed.
TIP: Before asking your students to use ChatGPT (if you plan to do so), please read over the privacy policy with them and allow them to opt out if they do not feel comfortable having their data collected and shared as outlined in the policy.
This information is from "ChatGPT & Education" by Torrey Trust, Ph.D., and is licensed under CC BY NC 4.0.
Recommended readings
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Artificial intelligence (AI) ethics: ethics of AI and ethical AISiau, Keng, and Weiyu Wang. Journal of Database Management (JDM) 31.2 (2020): 74-87.
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ChatGPT and artificial intelligence in higher education: quick start guide2023, UNESCO. This Quick Start Guide introduces ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that has taken the world by storm, reaching 100 million users just two months after being launched. The Quick Start Guide provides an overview of how ChatGPT works and explains how it can be used in higher education. The Quick Start Guide raises some of the main challenges and ethical implications of AI in higher education and offers practical steps that higher education institutions can take.
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Collectively Asking Technoskeptical Questions About ChatGPTCivics of Technology (blog), Civics of Technology, April 23, 2023.
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The Ethical Framework for AI in EducationThe Institute for Ethical Al in Education, University of Buckingham
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Foregrounding Technoethics: Toward Critical Perspectives in Technology and Teacher EducationJournal of Technology and Teacher Education 27, no. 4 (October, 2019): 555–574.
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Algorithms of Oppression
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Call Number: eBook OnlinePublication Date: 2018A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms. The author challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem. -
Artificial intelligence : Ethical, social, and security impacts for the present and the future (2022)
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Call Number: eBook OnlinePublication Date: 2022A global perspective on AI. This book will provide a global perspective on AI and the challenges it represents, and will focus on the digital ethics surrounding AI technology. -
Artificial Whiteness: Politics and ideology in artificial intelligence
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Call Number: eBook OnlineISBN: 9780231551076Publication Date: 2020Dramatic statements about the promise and peril of artificial intelligence for humanity abound, as an industry of experts claims that AI is poised to reshape nearly every sphere of life. Who profits from the idea that the age of AI has arrived? Why do ideas of AI's transformative potential keep reappearing in social and political discourse, and how are they linked to broader political agendas? -
Technology Is Not Neutral
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Call Number: eBook OnlineISBN: 9781907994975Publication Date: 2022It seems that just about every new technology that we bring to bear on improving our lives brings with it some downside, side effect or unintended consequence. These issues can pose very real and growing ethical problems for all of us. For example, automated facial recognition can make life easier and safer for us - but it also poses huge issues with regard to privacy, ownership of data and even identity theft. How do we understand and frame these debates, and work out strategies at personal and governmental levels? Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics addresses one of today's most pressing problems: how to create and use tools and technologies to maximize benefits and minimize harms? Drawing on the author's experience as a technologist, political risk analyst and historian, the book offers a practical and cross-disciplinary approach that will inspire anyone creating, investing in or regulating technology, and it will empower all readers to better hold technology to account.
