Experts see huge potential for AI tools like ChatGPT in schools

The use of AI chatbots like ChatGPT-based Copilot and Google's Bard has great potential in schools, according to new research from leading education experts in Germany.

However, there are many prerequisites and conditions for the responsible use of these tools to promote learning, according to a paper from Germany's Standing Scientific Commission (SWK) on education policy.

The committee recommended a speedy transition phase which would see the systematic trialling of such AI tools "with an open culture of error." The SWK also pointed out risks and hurdles.

"AI can and should support teaching and learning processes, but the final decision or assessment and responsibility for the end product must lie with humans," reads one key sentence in the paper.

Teachers need to be qualified for this and training programmes need to be expanded quickly, the committee says.

For whom are these tools useful?

Text-generating AI tools such as ChatGPT should not be used at all in primary school and should be largely avoided in the first years of secondary school, the researchers believe.

Here, the focus should be on children acquiring reading and writing skills. From the eighth year of school onwards, or mid-secondary school level, they could be used regularly as writing support, while texts should continue to be produced without these tools. The use of AI should also be closely monitored.

The researchers believe AI programs are particularly well suited to providing support "when learners have a high level of technical, writing, reading and digital skills."

They should therefore be used with older pupils as well as in universities. The aim is to make "productive use" of this technology. The development of reading and writing skills in the first years of school should take place without the major so-called Large Language Models (LLM) that make tools like ChatGPT and Bard possible.

Research on how many children are already using AI for their school work is scant, and early estimates range between 20% and 50% of children using AI tools like ChatGPT to write texts, find information and translate texts.

The education experts also see many - often underestimated - opportunities for teachers, such help with planning lessons, creating tests with different levels of difficulty and expanding on teaching materials according to the performance levels of the pupils.

And yet, despite fears that AI will lead to mass lay-offs in certain industries, the researchers are convinced that AI cannot replace the expertise of a human teacher.

What are the risks?

Since the initial hype from ChatGPT in late 2022, these chatbots have come a long way. And yet they still consistently create texts that contain entirely made-up facts and hard-to-spot mistakes.

The problem is that the answers still sound as plausible and reliable as ever.

For this reason, students need to learn how to evaluate content in terms of quality, correctness and trustworthiness. In addition, they can learn to take control of the process by getting more specific with what they ask from their chatbot, the researchers write.

Critical, analytical thinking and specialised knowledge are required here, and the adept use of AI tools by pupils should be practised and also tested as a new skill.

Teachers need to be qualified accordingly. "The dynamic development of the tools places particular demands on teachers." According to the recommendation, the responsibility for using AI - for example for creating tasks or assessing performance - should lie with the teachers.

Naturally, AI also poses a problem for traditional examination formats, and these approaches needs to be refined amid the rise of tools that can answer entire essay questions in seconds.

The researchers recommend differentiating between parts of examinations that do not require the use of tools and those in which AI tools may be used.

If such tools are used, "not only the final text, but also the students' reflective engagement with the creation and result should be the subject of the assessment".

The researchers say we can assume that in many schools the mindful use of AI chatbots will become an important future skill that is tested along with other subject areas.