UNESCO has called on governments to “quickly regulate” the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, in classrooms, including restricting their use to younger children.
In recommendations released today, UNESCO emphasizes that public authorities are not ready to handle ethical issues related to the integration of Artificial General Intelligence technologies into school classrooms.
The United Nations agency suggests that governments should set a minimum age for the use of Artificial General Intelligence technologies, which cannot be less than 13 years old.
According to the general director of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, “Artificial General Intelligence can be a tremendous opportunity for human development, but it can also be a source of harm and damage.”
“It cannot be integrated into education without public involvement, strong government regulations, and safeguards,” Azoulay stressed.
Artificial Intelligence technologies that are available to the general public have been developed since late 2022 when ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, proved capable of generating concise texts, poems, and conversations from concise questions, highlighted in the report.
This explosion of such tools has also raised concerns about new forms of plagiarism or fraud in schools and universities, without reducing the attractiveness of an education market considered potentially very profitable.
UNESCO highlights in its guidelines that Artificial General Intelligence tools have the potential to help children with special educational needs, for example, by creating subtitles, provided that teachers, users, and researchers assist in the design of these tools, and that governments regulate their use.
