The Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence in Education

                                The Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence in Education

In recent times the use of artificial intelligence has revolutionised diverse sectors from healthcare and education to content creation. While some advancements like the use of artificial intelligence to analyse diagnostic tools like x ray images have been hailed as ground-breaking, there have been concerns about the potential dangers in the use of artificial intelligence to drive automated cars. Similarly artificial intelligence has brought in many changes in the education sector for students, educators as well as administrators. The use of artificial intelligence to automate routine tasks and generate lesson plans, quizzes, etc. has proved to be time saving and beneficial. However, educationists have raised concerns about the unchecked use of artificial intelligence by students to solve quizzes, complete assignments without reading the assigned material, or complete projects by fabricating data using generative artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence to write research papers has also become a topic of contention, with debates about the extent its use which should be considered permissible. Let us look more closely the advantages and disadvantages of the use of artificial intelligence in education.

When it comes to the advantages of using artificial intelligence in education, its use in providing personalised educational experience is incomparable. Unlike traditional teaching learning methods which target the maximum number of students in a particular class by catering to the average learner, artificial intelligence can provide students a personalised teaching learning experience. Artificial intelligence based platforms, for example, those used for learning languages can detect the difficulties faced by the learner and pace the reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities accordingly. Artificial intelligence based platforms like BLOOM and LaMDA are particularly helpful for students with learning difficulties like dyslexia, problems with language processing, etc., creating teaching learning material customised for their needs. Artificial intelligence can be used to automate routine administrative tasks like grading and recording attendance, which can save valuable time and enable teachers to allocate more time for enrichment of lesson plans or design interesting projects. Teachers can use artificial intelligence to create interactive engaging lessons for students, especially useful for listening and speaking exercises for foreign language learners. However, the use of artificial intelligence in education poses significant risks as well.

Experts have sounded the alarm on excessive reliance on artificial intelligence for teaching learning activities which inhibit the imagination and creativity of learners and teachers alike. The rise in dependence on artificial intelligence has led to learners depending on software generating readymade answers for assignments and quizzes instead of learning the text, engaging in critical thinking, and expressing their opinions. This approach is far from foolproof and can lead to wrong answers, especially when artificial intelligence is unable to analyse the available data effectively. Sometimes generative artificial intelligence is unable to analyse information like names in foreign languages and may give wrong information. The use of artificial intelligence to maintain records poses significant security risks through data breaches. When cloud technologies are used to store information by artificial intelligence software, unauthorised sources may gain access to sensitive information. Although artificial intelligence is being used for various teaching learning activities, developing countries India have a huge digital divide along rural-urban and economic lines. The urban areas and more economically developed areas have access to technology while rural and economically weaker sections of society do not have access to artificial intelligence. This creates an unequal playing field for students from these backgrounds who may fall behind their peers who use artificial intelligence in the teaching-learning process. The extensive use of artificial intelligence has given rise to fears of job displacement in a number of sectors. The education sector is not immune to this as well. The use of artificial intelligence to do clerical tasks can lead to loss of jobs in educational sectors. Replacing administrative staff with automated software technologies can lead to errors as human decision making is replaced by artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool which has taken the world by storm, transforming the educational sector among many others. When used responsibly it can update the teaching learning process for those with disabilities, opening up new avenues which could not be imagined before. The ethical use of artificial intelligence in the teaching learning process and in research breaks new ground in various ways. At the same time, excessive dependence on artificial intelligence can destroy the creative and imaginative faculties, and critical thinking. To conclude, artificial intelligence is a double-edged sword which must be used responsibly in education to reap its benefits and counter the negative effects.

Dr. Priyanka Banerjee 

Asst. Professor

Techno India University, West Bengal

www.technoindiauniversity.ac.in                         

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