UNESCO Urges Regulation of Generative AI in Schools for Ethical and Human-Centered Use in Education

UNESCO called on governments to quickly regulate the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in schools to ensure their ethical and human-centered use in education and research.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today released global guidelines on the use of generative AI in which it proposes setting the minimum age for students to use these tools in classrooms at 13 years.

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It also insists that teachers have adequate training in this matter, as well as the establishment of global, regional or national standards for data protection and privacy.

Warns that the use of generative AI is worsening digital data gaps and that “Current ChatGPT models are trained with online user data that reflects the dominant values ​​and social norms of the global North.”

UNESCO already warned last June that the use of generative AI in schools is spreading too quickly and with a “worrying lack of scrutiny, controls or regulations.”

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Generative AI can create text, images, videos, music and computer programming code, so it has profound implications for education and research.

But a recent global survey by UNESCO of more than 450 schools and universities showed that less than 10 percent had standards for the use of these tools, mainly due to the lack of national regulations.

“Generative AI can be a tremendous opportunity for human development, but it can also cause harm and prejudice,” the director general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, stressed in a statement.

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For this reason, he insisted that this tool “cannot be integrated into education without public commitment and without the necessary safeguards and regulations from governments.

EFE