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Empowering minds: a round table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific
Empowering minds: a round table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific
The emergence of generative AI, a recent groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technology capable of producing sophisticated content from text and images to simulations and audiovisuals, has become a transformative force across multiple sectors. Popular applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude are prime examples of the rapidly expanding range of generative AI tools that are having an impact in education across the Asia-Pacific. These tools offer unprecedented opportunities for enabling personalized learning experiences at scale and expanding access to high-quality learning resources. However, as generative AI increasingly reshapes classrooms, critical questions remain unanswered, such as:
- How can generative AI be ethically and responsibly integrated into educational settings?
- What policies and safeguards are needed to address issues like misinformation, algorithmic bias and threats to academic integrity?
- What challenges do Asia-Pacific countries face in harnessing generative AI in education, given the region’s unique context?
- What are the strategies for Asia-Pacific countries to take up opportunities offered by generative AI, while mitigating the risks?
In response to these questions and emerging challenges in the region, the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok), in collaboration with The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), organized the regional experts meeting on 7-9 November 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. This hybrid meeting, titled ‘Empowering Minds: A Round Table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific’, explored the implications of generative AI for teacher training and development. It served as an important platform to leverage opportunities and mitigate risks of generative AI in education across the Asia-Pacific region.
The overarching goal of this round table was to guide the transformation of education systems in the Asia-Pacific by:
- Exploring implications for responsible and ethical integration of generative AI in teaching and learning, with a focus on ChatGPT and other emerging technologies.
- Enhancing the capacities of educators to utilize AI competencies in teaching and learning at the school level, while optimizing potential benefits and minimizing risks.
Specific objectives were to:
- Enhance capacity for generative AI integration in education by providing resources prior to the meeting, hands-on lab learning and the exchange of ideas with AI experts.
- Enable inclusive and equitable access to AI-driven education by identifying strategies to ensure inclusive, equitable access to AI-enabled education, regardless of learners’ socioeconomic status, gender or location.
- Empower educators and learners with useful skills and competencies to use generative AI in their pedagogical and learning practices.
- Foster a hub of continuous learning via open dialogue on the challenges, benefits and risks of generative AI, focusing on its responsible use in education.
The round table was attended by ninety experts, educators and youth from twenty UNESCO Member States, international organizations, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector, with thirteen participants joining online. Through dialogue, knowledge sharing and collaboration among diverse stakeholders, the event provided a timely platform to explore options for responsible and ethical adoption of AI-driven teaching and learning in the region.
The key outputs of the round table were recommendations for policy and practice made during the breakout sessions. These recommendations culminated in the Outcome Statement which serves to guide governments, policymakers, educational institutions and stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region to consider fourteen strategic actions for the responsible and ethical integration of generative AI in education. The Outcome Statement will also inform the preparation of a policy brief to provide guidelines on policy pertaining to Generative AI and education.
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