Rishi Sunak claimed that Artificial Intelligence could be used in British classrooms while attending London Tech Week amid concern from both educators and its inventors.
Rishi Sunak says Artificial Intelligence could be used in British classrooms.
The UK Prime Minister believes that AI has the potential to “reduce teachers’ workloads” by assisting with lesson planning and marking.
The 43-year-old politician told an audience at London Tech Week that there was the possibility to supply “personalised learning for each individual” as he labelled the tech “so powerful” and like having a tutor for each pupil.
He added: “We’re already seeing the promise of what AI can do, whether it’s new drug discovery; or helping doctors do surgery more accurately and faster, or detect cancers much earlier than they otherwise would.”
Rishi’s comments come after teaching professionals have been coming to terms with the impact that the ever-growing tech will have on the learning environment in both schools and universities.
Last month, headteachers expressed concern about how things like OpenAI’s chatbot Chat GPT and its Google competitor Bard were evolving “far too quickly”, and advice for how it could be applied to educational establishments was not matching up.
The PM recently met with the heads of these companies and outlined his intention to make the UK a hive of development for AI.
However, there has been a wave of backlash about AI from those who pioneered it, like when Professor Geoffrey Hinton, who was dubbed ‘the godfather of Artificial Intelligence’, labelled it an “existential threat” to humanity after he resigned from his position at Google.
In May, The 75-year-old computer scientist told the New York Times: “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things.”
This comes after other big names in the tech sector like Twitter owner Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak – co-signed a letter calling for a pause on all advancements until its impact on society – whether it be misinformation or economic – is understood better.
Rishi Sunak says Artificial Intelligence could be used in British classrooms
