Australia will allow applications such as ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to be used in schools from 2024. It was announced yesterday, through a statement, by the Australian Department of Education after the meeting of branch ministers (from the different states and federal territories of the country) that took place on Thursday. Details of the regulatory framework will be published over the coming weeks.
But what does the landing of this technology in the classroom represent? Was it inevitable that it would come? "Without knowing the details of the regulatory framework, I would say that the use of these tools is not something inevitable, but, if they are used well, they can be very positive", Josep Maria Martorell, deputy director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). "It can accelerate the use of knowledge and increase students' autonomy", he adds.
Of course, the implementation entails several challenges, in his opinion. The first, the necessary teacher training. "It is a tremendously powerful tool and the people who will implement it need to be properly trained." The second challenge has to do with technological sovereignty. "Generative AI should end up being open and universal access, competitive in all languages, transparent, respecting privacy and free from bias".
Martorell explains that both the Government of Spain (with the Perte Nova economia de lallengua) and that of the Generalitat de Catalunya (with the Aina project) are working in this direction. “For Australia to do this is fantastic – in English there are many generative AI models that work well. But in the classrooms of Catalonia, for example, Catalan and Spanish are spoken and, therefore, we need systems that do not respond more or less well if we ask them in these languages, but that are extremely competent".
According to what the Australian Department of Education has hinted at, the framework they have not yet presented revolves around the principles verbalized by Martorell.
In other words, it is based on precepts such as the protection of human and social well-being, transparency, equal and non-discriminatory access, respect for copyright and accountability, as well as the ethical guidelines that already exist has about the use of this technology.
"If we want to guarantee all these principles - points out Martorell - it is not feasible to simply use existing commercial tools, which may not exactly comply with them, but it is necessary to continue investing, as governments are already doing, so that there can be competent tools of public origin that follow all these foundations”.
The popularization of ChatGPT, an AI-based chat system from the company OpenAI, motivated almost every region that makes up the ocean country, except South Australia, to ban this new technology in public schools. However, in April, Western Australia changed its mind slightly and allowed teachers to use generative AI tools.
