Susana’s Task 12: Speculative Futures

https://blogs.ubc.ca/createablog/2021/11/28/task-twelve-speculative-futures/

 

Susana’s speculative futures revolved around using artificial intelligence in education. We both used the concept of AI integration, however, Susana applied it to education, and I applied it to our daily lives. The two speculative futures that Susana mentioned are AI tutor for each student, and a Virtual Online Assistant (VOA) to help stop cyberbullying in higher education.

From the post, Susana is suggesting that the AI tutor can be downloaded as an app, which can monitor students’ learning, and proactively provide help when needed. For example, pronouncing something out loud if a student cannot do so due to stage fright. However, it is unclear as to how the AI collects data on that particular student’s learning progress. Does the learning have to also be done via the app in order for the AI to work? The post suggests that the AI is always working in the background, listening to the student, and can be activated to do an action without the student’s prompt. This begs the question of ethics regarding what should and shouldn’t the AI listen to? If it’s an educational AI, can it determine when a student is talking about education-related matters, and stop listening when the student is not talking about school?

I think the cyberbullying VOA idea is a really interesting one, and this could probably be applied to social media platforms as well. People often make online posts in the heat of the moment and regret afterwards (or maybe regret 10 years later) that they made a rude comment. Sometimes all it takes is just a kind reminder at that moment, of the consequences the rude comment might have, to make people change their minds about posting it. This is especially important for teenagers who are older enough to have social media accounts, but not old enough to have the maturity to consider the impact a comment might have on others’ social-emotional state, and on their own career opportunities in the near future.