According to a survey, many parents are concerned about the possible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools. In a survey for the Vodafone Foundation, around 60 percent stated that they saw this as more of a danger. About 30 percent see more opportunities in it. Skepticism is slightly lower in the general population (57 to 35).
AI is in focus due to the proliferation of chat robots like ChatGPT. These are chat programs at the other end of which there is no human, but a computer that reacts like a human and answers questions from a wide variety of areas or, if instructed, also writes lectures, interprets poems or composes songs. The program has been open to the public online since last November.
Most parents against use in schools
Ten percent of the parents of secondary schools (after primary school) stated in the survey that their children already use ChatGPT, for example for homework. However, the majority does not believe that this will make traditional homework obsolete. Most parents are also opposed to using the program in schools.
“Today we are only at the beginning of a development, the dynamics and extent of which we cannot yet estimate at all,” said the President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, on the occasion of the publication of the data. AI will change the classroom, schools and the learning strategies of students.
Personal relationship important
However, the majority of the population (85 percent) does not believe that teachers could be supplanted or replaced by artificial intelligence. Meidinger also sees it this way: The personal relationship between teachers and learners remains the key to successful educational processes, he said.
Overall, the survey shows a lot of skepticism: A clear majority believes that the use of AI in schools would have a rather negative effect on the learning behavior and judgment of children. 74 percent are in favor of the fact that with greater use of AI, what constitutes a separate intellectual achievement would have to be redefined.
