NEWS How are children and education affected by artificial intelligence (AI)? What impact will technologies such as ChatGPT have on children's learning? On April 19, the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program - Humanities and Society (WASP-HS) is organizing a national online event between researchers and industry representatives to discuss the opportunities and consequences of AI for children and education.
ImageMattias Pettersson, Maarit Kytöharju
AI is becoming more and more present in our daily lives, especially for children. From virtual assistants to educational games, AI is changing the way children learn and interact with the world. To get a better understanding of how AI affects children and education and what opportunities and consequences AI contributes to, WASP-HS brings together researchers and industry representatives from across Sweden at the online event on April 19.
"We will explore the potential benefits and challenges of the use of AI in education and how it affects children. As rapporteur for UNICEF’s Policy guidance on AI for children, I have seen how AI can be a force for innovation, but it also poses risks for children and their rights, across the globe. That is why research and multi-stakeholder dialog is needed to explore approaches to protecting and upholding child rights in an evolving AI world." says Virginia Dignum, Professor of Responsible AI at Umeå University and Program Director of WASP-HS.
The afternoon will be opened by Virginia Dignum and continue with a speech by Teemu Roos, Professor at the University of Helsinki and Director of the AI Education Program at the Finnish Center for AI.
During the event, three parallel discussions will be held. Each discussion is led by researchers within or related to the research program and addresses different perspectives on AI, children and education. The discussions are about algorithmic justice to protect children, what children's expectations of AI are and how the technology may affect how children behave socially, and how new AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, affect children's education.
“During our discussion, we will reason about how to support a fair use of AI in education that goes beyond technical solutions, such as including social and cultural solutions in the design process behind the technology", says Johan Lundin, Professor of Informatics at the University of Gothenburg.
After the day, the discussions are summarized in a report that will be published on the WASP-HS website in the spring. The report will be available for all interested parties to read.
The vision of WASP-HS is to foster new interdisciplinary knowledge in the humanities and social sciences on AI and autonomous systems and their impact on human and social development. WASP-HS enables cutting-edge research, expertise and capacity building in the humanities and social sciences. In this way, WASP-HS contributes to the development of innovative human technology and its transformative interaction with society. In total, the Wallenberg Foundations are investing up to SEK 660 million in the WASP-HS research program which is coordinated from Umeå university. Read more about WASP-HS.