Critics also worry about the ethical implications of normalizing AI use among educators. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called for regulation of AI in education, but little progress has been made. Despite these concerns, OpenAI is aggressively targeting the education market, which it sees as a key growth area. However, research indicates that many teachers and educational leaders are reluctant to adopt AI tools, and studies on AI's educational impact have yielded mixed results.
Key takeaways:
- OpenAI has released a free online course for K-12 teachers to learn how to integrate its AI chatbot platform, ChatGPT, into their classrooms. The course was created in collaboration with Common Sense Media and covers the basics of AI and its educational applications.
- Some educators have expressed concerns about the course, including fears that it could normalize AI use among educators who are unaware of the technology's ethical implications, and concerns about how OpenAI might control content created using its services.
- Despite OpenAI's assurances that it does not sell user data and that users own the outputs they generate, some educators remain skeptical and worry that the company could change its policies in the future.
- While some see potential benefits in the use of AI in education, others are more skeptical, with a quarter of public K-12 teachers surveyed by the Pew Research Center saying that using AI tools in education does more harm than good.