Artificial intelligence (AI) should be kept out of early years and treated with great caution in primaries, a digital learning expert has told independent school leaders.
AI makes so many mistakes that it would be dangerous to rely on it when children are encountering critical concepts for the first time, said Professor Judy Robertson, chair in digital learning at the University of Edinburgh.
She told the recent annual conference of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools in Edinburgh that, while there were many potential benefits from applying AI in education, there are also a number of areas of learning where the best policy is to 鈥渒eep AI out of the way鈥.
鈥淕enerative AI isn鈥檛 a database of facts, so it isn鈥檛 guaranteed to be accurate, and that鈥檚 really the whole crux of a lot of the problems with it,鈥 said Professor Robertson.
AI tools, she explained, are built upon 鈥渄ata sets harvested from all over the internet, and what they do is they basically predict for any given piece of text, what鈥檚 likely to come next鈥.
These predictions, 鈥渟imply based on what it鈥檚 read before鈥, may result in confident assertions that sound 鈥渞eally plausible鈥 but are often 鈥渘ot factually true鈥.
AI falls short of standard pass marks
Even the best AI models generate paragraphs without mistakes only 35 per cent of the time, which Professor Robertson contrasted with the standard university undergraduate pass mark of 40 per cent.
鈥淎I isn鈥檛 setting out to mislead you - it doesn鈥檛 have an agenda telling you to make mistakes, it has no agenda at all - it鈥檚 just a tool that makes statistical predictions,鈥 she said.
However, 鈥渋t could be used by somebody who has an agenda鈥 and seeks to 鈥渁mplify鈥 deliberately false information - and to exploit AI in this way is to expose that AI tools 鈥渄on鈥檛 have concepts, they don鈥檛 understand the things that we do鈥.
Professor Robertson added: 鈥淚 think that if you have a tool that doesn鈥檛 have conceptual knowledge itself, then it doesn鈥檛 really have a place in assessing or teaching children鈥檚 conceptual understanding.鈥
She viewed this as particularly important in the early years and primary schools, 鈥渨here we鈥檙e building a network of key big ideas and concepts鈥, adding: 鈥淲e want human teachers to do that, to make sure that there aren鈥檛 mistakes that the AI has inadvertently brought in, so that they have a solid understanding - which they can then build on, perhaps using generative AI tools.鈥
Professor Robertson said: 鈥淚n the early years, for me, learning is about play and it鈥檚 about exploration. And I don鈥檛 think that AI particularly has a place in that.鈥
AI should only be used 鈥渧ery carefully, with the support of a teacher, before our children begin to develop the metacognitive capacity to be fact-checking AI鈥.
Professor Robertson also believes that AI 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have a place in things like learning about personal social development or human relationships, developing your sense of self鈥.
She added: 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a whole lot of things that are really important for education as well, like learning outdoors, the importance of physical activity and sport, playing musical instruments, doing crafts - all very human things [in] which I think we can, quite simply, keep AI out the way.鈥
鈥楪enerative AI is rubbish at maths鈥
Professor Robertson also talked about a joint project between her university and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, involving eight students from Castlebrae Community High and George Watson鈥檚 College, both in Edinburgh, and Dunblane High, who were trained as researchers to gauge peers鈥 views about AI.
They found, for example, pitfalls in the use of AI to complete homework. Professor Robertson stressed that AI should never be relied upon in maths homework.
鈥淕enerative AI is rubbish at maths - it can鈥檛 count,鈥 said Professor Robertson, adding that pupils should be encouraged to use a calculator or spreadsheet instead.
Students were also found to be worried about: copyright theft by AI tools and the impact on creative artists; data privacy (鈥渢hey really should be鈥); and the environmental impact of AI.
They were also frustrated in schools where teachers were using AI to save time and reduce workload, but students were not allowed to.
Professor Robertson, meanwhile, shared her concerns about 鈥渇inancial inequities鈥 that may emerge as some children gain access to more expensive AI models while others do not.
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