Deciding if AI is a friend or foe

The proposition that Coláiste Mhuire trio Maksymilian Surowice, John Bernard Basanes and Nikita Bickovs set out to examine is whether artificial intelligence (AI) represents a threat or an asset to the education system: "friend or foe?" they ask.

AI has been around since the 1950s – which John Bernard admitted greatly surprised the team. Over the last year or two in particular, it has come more to the fore, and has become a facility that is not uncontroversial, they state, explaining that they were curious whether it could be used to good advantage if integrated into the education system.

In what was an impressive feat, the three engaged with 250 pupils and 65 teachers in their research and after analysing the feedback from those subjects, they have concluded that AI will bring many positive effects, including the facility to formulate personalised teaching.

Seventy five per cent of the teachers surveyed and 69 per cent of the students want AI integrated into the education system. A finding that surprised Maksymilian was the extent to which teachers are already using AI, and Nikita was impressed at the ability of teachers to generally recognise an AI-generated exam question.

Summing up, John Bernard said the team’s view was that AI offered many positives.