• UNESCO has called for governments around the world to introduce regulations around generative AI and its use in education.
• It says governments should introduce AI-based curricula at schools and work towards protecting the privacy of students.
• South Africa has yet to implement any regulation in the generative AI space.

The power of generative artificial intelligence (AI), software that can produce human-like work has the education landscape at a disadvantage.

Some of the most prominent institutions from around the world have had to issue statements to students, warning them about using the likes of ChatGPT to cheat at school or university.

Concerns rise over the fact that while generative AI can help students with quick and easy answers to pertinent questions, it does not help them with critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

It is also too easy for students to abuse chatbots to produce their work for them, actually learning nothing in the process.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday published its first guidance on the use of generative AI for education.

In the guidance, it urged governments around the world to regulate the use of the technology in and around schools, universities and for other educational purposes. This includes the protection of data privacy and the implementation of an age limit for users, according to Reuters.

Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO warns governments that the speed of adoption of generative AI software like ChatGPT has left it uncontrollable.

“We are struggling to align the speed of transformation of the education system to the speed of the change in technological progress and advancement in these machine learning models,” said Giannini.

“In many cases, governments and schools are embracing a radically unfamiliar technology that even leading technologists do not claim to understand.”

UNESCO also suggests that governments should introduce government-sanctioned AI curricula at schools to expand the knowledge base of students, especially in vocational education and training.

It also places the onus of ethical use of AI on the creators of these generative platforms.

“GenAI providers should be held responsible for ensuring adherence to core values and lawful purposes, respecting intellectual property, and upholding ethical practices, while also preventing the spread of disinformation and hate speech,” the UNESCO guidance reads.

A few governments around the world are working on introducing regulations around the use and employment of generative AI. China has already drafted its rules on the technology, with some of the country’s largest corporations like Alibaba and Baidu leading the space in Asia.

The European Union is also apparently working on its own AI act which it is working to be approved later this year.

South Africa has no specific regulations around AI. The adoption of the generative AI software by government institutions is still early, but university students in the country have leapt to using ChatGPT to make their lives easier, for better or for worse.

Lecturers at institutions like the University of the Witwatersrand have opted for more creative means to combat AI-based plagiarism, including setting essay questions outside of the purview of ChatGPT’s knowledge base to catch out dishonest students.