N.L. is crafting policy to guide AI use in schools. Here's what an expert says should be in it

Newfoundland and Labrador is working on a policy to guide the use of artificial intelligence in provincial schools, and an  expert who researches generative AI in education says it needs to centre on ethical use while still preparing students for the future.

Rahul Kumar of Brock University's faculty of education, said the increasing use of artificial intelligence can't be ignored.

"It has disrupted long-standing practices in education, and we need to deal with it," Kumar said in a recent CBC News interview.

"Trying to prevent its use is not going to be very fruitful. The trick now is how to use it in such a way that it is ethically responsible and promotes teaching and learning."

An emailed statement to CBC News from the provincial Department of Education said guidelines for the use of AI will provide professional learning resources for teachers to build AI literacy and focus on user safety in the public education system, and will be issued in the coming months.

CBC News asked the department for an interview and details of the policy but was told an interview wasn't possible at the time.

Kumar said there are five main pillars an AI policy would need to address:

• Proper training for teachers, and time that allows them to ensure training and knowledge of how it can be implemented in the curriculum.
• Student privacy and how data is handled, including with third parties.
• How the use of AI will be monitored, including both in school and at home.
• The ethical use of AI and enforcement of unethical use.
• Ensuring equity and access.

Kumar said building AI literacy, including learning the strengths and limitations of AI tools to understand how they can be best implemented, will be especially important.

"Given its propensity to hallucinate and produce deepfakes and so on and so forth, to be able to detect that [and] assess that [is important]," he said.

WATCH | The CBC's Alex Kennedy lays out what needs to be included in a school policy:

What should policy around AI in schools look like? We asked an expert

2 months ago

Duration 2:47

Newfoundland and Labrador is crafting policy around the use of artificial intelligence in its schools. While details are still scant, generative AI researcher Rahul Kumar says it needs to find a balance as the technology rapidly changes. The CBC's Alex Kennedy has more.

"That comes with if you already have some knowledge base. This is why the role of the adults will have to be quite prominent in this. So in K-12 for instance, the role of the teachers is going to be importance in guidance.… Once you have acquired a sufficient amount of knowledge, then you graduate to being able to use the tool."

When people think of generative AI and its use in education, they tend to think of ChatGPT — software that responds to questions and prompts that can be used in a variety of situations like essay writing.

While that — or the use of AI in schools in general — could be seen as a negative, Kumar argued it can't be avoided because of how it's being implemented as a technology of the future.

"Trying to prevent use of generative AI is like trying to fit the toothpaste back into the tube. It is ubiquitous, it is available everywhere, all the tools that we use," he said.

"The purpose of education is to prepare its graduates for their future, not our past. Then teaching them how to use AI as a valid tool to be more efficient, to be able to harness its strengths is not only our responsibility, but ethically that's what we signed up for."

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