Below are some ethical challenges around the use of AI in Education, along with some suggestions and things to consider.
Protecting Privacy
Protecting the students and your safety and privacy is always a priority.
- Avoid platforms that store or gather data. Focus on using educational technology that prioritizes user privacy.
- Do not input confidential and private information, such as names, employee or student numbers, and dates of birth, into AI tools.
Informed Use & Environmental Impacts
- Learn and teach about the environmental impact of using AI. The training of large language models can require a significant amount of energy. Being mindful of this when using AI tools in the classroom is essential. Visit the LEARN blog for more information about the environmental impacts of AI.
- Learn and teach how AI systems use the information input into their systems by users.
Authorship Transparency
- Openly discuss AI tools with students. Teach them how AI works and its capabilities and limitations. This will help them develop critical thinking skills and become more responsible digital citizens.
- Model to students that it is always important to cite your sources, especially when using AI tools to generate content.
- Develop a checklist, like this one from turnitin.com, to help avoid suspicions of academic misconduct or cheating.
- Here is an example of how you and your students could cite AI: “The use of [insert name of AI system(s) and link] to [specific use of generative artificial intelligence]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain use].”
Equity and Access
- Ensure all students can access and learn about AI technologies. Understanding how AI systems work will help prepare them to be global citizens.
- Try using AI tools with large, diverse data sets. Assess the AI tool for potential bias and discrimination.
- Discuss issues related to equity, access and AI with your students. Explore concepts like misinformation, misrepresentation, and dataset bias with your class.
Questions to Consider Before Using
- How will the use of AI impact [students, teachers, parents, the education program, legal issues, etc.]?
- Which AI tools should we endorse/encourage the use of?
- What restrictions should there be on that use?
- What privacy and safety issues are at risk?
Teaching About AI Ethical Considerations in the Classroom
Here are some activity ideas to explore the ethical use of AI with your students:
- Students brainstorm and design a hypothetical AI tool. They must consider ethical guidelines like privacy, fairness, and accessibility in their designs.
- Students research different careers and how AI might impact those fields in the future. They reflect on ethical considerations related to humans working in a specific field being replaced by AI systems.
- Make a presentation of copyright and protecting one’s work in a digital age. Students discuss how copyright terms may change due to generative AI systems.
- Conduct a research project on AI’s environmental impacts. Based on their findings, have students take a stance on what AI should and shouldn’t be used for.
- Have students draft an AI ethics policy.
- Assess an AI tool’s security and privacy measures. Discuss areas that may need to be revised.
- Divide students into groups to debate a current event related to AI (e.g., the use of AI in autonomous vehicles, facial recognition technology).
