On November 28, at the IV Congress of Young Scientists, participants discussed the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on the education system and how to use new technologies for the benefit of science and education.
The panel discussion was organized with the support of the Russian State University for the Humanities. The vector for discussion was set by the session moderator, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Andrey Fursenko. Opening the discussion, he noted that “today there is a shortage of qualified personnel everywhere.” “Enormous changes are taking place in education due to the emergence of new technologies, incl. and artificial intelligence (AI), which are changing the way we teach, research and evaluate results. New approaches to education cause mixed reactions among educators and researchers. At the session, we must discuss these approaches and decide on what needs to be supported in education.”said the speaker.
Acting Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities Andrey Loginov said that “The university tries to use various information tools in the learning process, incl. and artificial intelligence”. He believes that “a humanities scientist is educated and grows from school, gradually accumulating knowledge and research experience in a state of eternal doubt, and AI will never catch up with a person in knowledge”.
According to the rector of Innopolis University Aleksandra Gasnikovadespite the fact that the number of brain neurons in humans and today’s artificial intelligence are comparable (about 86 billion and 100 billion, respectively), the human brain is millions of times more efficient than a computer. “Artificial intelligence is essentially a big flash drive for solving complex multidisciplinary individual problems”said the speaker.
Executive Director of the Sber Education Industry Center Svetlana Merkushinacontinuing the topic of the role of artificial intelligence in education, believes that today there is no need to be afraid of it. It is not capable of reproducing anything on its own, but only uses what a person loads into it. In this regard, the responsibility of the person himself regarding the boundaries of the use of AI sharply increases. This also applies to the sphere of creating an Avatar (digital twin), which will be a person’s assistant in life. She spoke in detail about the corporation’s projects to develop assistants for scientists and teachers using generative neural networks. The speaker highlighted accessibility, multimodality, narrow specialization, changes in the labor market and the development of responsible AI as trends in the development of new technologies. In addition, the speaker drew attention to the challenges facing society: developing critical thinking skills, creating financially accessible technologies, protecting information and personal data.
According to the director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering of the University of Science and Technology MISIS Fedora Senatova, “We must accept AI and actively use it in education and science. The institute is developing a robotic surgeon that will perform operations on humans, and the key problem for engineers, creators of robotics, is bioethics. It is in this area that the responsibility of the individual is very high.”.
Head of the Department of Philosophy of Education, Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Elena Bryzgalina complemented the previous speaker and stated: “Ethics and law are the horizons of humanity. A code is needed for robotics developers; teachers do not have such a code either. It may be necessary to create ethics committees, since the question of the ethics of authorship also arises. The entire cycle of the educational process also requires ethical support – this is a contribution to the quality of education. “Young people must master modern technologies and have high ethical standards, which must be instilled at all stages of their education.”.
Rector of Moscow City Pedagogical University Igor Remorenko in his speech, he focused on key issues in the field of education: assessing the quality of the educational process and the role of AI technologies in education, which help collect and process large amounts of data.
Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov; Member of the Coordination Council for Youth Affairs in the Scientific and Educational Spheres of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Science and Education Artem Kovalev dedicated his speech to the problem – “Should we be afraid of AI?” He explained that “AI developers do not come into education, do not show what they invented and whether they did it correctly”.
Senior Administrator, Faculty of Physics, National Research University Higher School of Economics Dmitry Vasiliev believes that “today AI carries both positive and threat, but it is just a tool that cannot do harm by itself”.
During the discussion, the speakers expressed their opinions on the agenda of the session and noted that today we do not have a complete understanding and knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of AI. Our human values must be our absolute guideline. Russia still has a narrow zone for making decisions on AI and the ability to control it; any knowledge develops at the intersection of the humanities and natural sciences, and people need to be taught how to properly use technological advances. The main thing, according to the participants, is live communication between people. Despite the availability of neural networks, AI is a fairy tale that young people want to turn into reality, and they will use it. At the same time, we must not forget about national security – prohibitions do not work, no matter where we put a comma, and feelings of fear and responsibility should not leave us. The speakers agree with the assessment that education is the transmission of cultural and ethical codes from generation to generation.
Summing up the discussion, Andrei Fursenko announced the results of voting by comma. Only about 7% of those present believe that it should be placed after the word “ban”, while the rest believe that it should not be banned. The speaker noted that “we need to find and understand the connections of new technologies with man and nature, without violating their laws. At every step we need to remember the consequences, and education needs to be transformed to keep up with the times.” Summing up the discussion, Andrei Fursenko said: “What are the specific results of our session? The consensus opinion of the event participants is to support the development of new technologies in the educational environment. However, I hope that our scientists will nevertheless think about the consequences of their actions. Our imperative task is to change education in accordance with the demands of time and society, including in order to keep up with our foreign partners.”
Based on materials from the press service of the Roscongress Foundation.
Source: www.nkj.ru
