AI in Schools: Navigating Learning, Deepfakes, and Privacy Risks Globally

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into educational settings worldwide, presenting both opportunities and significant challenges. While AI tools can assist students with career exploration, language learning, and even reading ability assessment, they also introduce risks like facilitating cheating, generating deepfake content, perpetuating bias, and compromising personal data privacy.

Globally, educational institutions are grappling with AI's dual nature. Research highlights how AI can act as a "learning assistant." For instance, in Oregon, USA, an AI career exploration tool named "Sassy" helps students discuss interests and receive suggestions for careers and learning paths. In Germany, the "LeseKind" project uses AI to evaluate primary school students' reading abilities, providing personalized feedback and easing teachers' assessment burdens.

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AI has entered the classroom, capable of helping students find career directions, practice languages, and even assess reading ability, but it may also lead students to habitually 'take shortcuts,' leading to deepfake images, cheating, bias, and personal data leakage.

However, the proliferation of AI in education is not without its downsides. Studies indicate that students' work often goes undetected as AI-generated, challenging traditional assessment methods. Over-reliance on AI may lead students to "take shortcuts" in their learning, potentially weakening their ability to think independently and discern misinformation. More alarming are the risks associated with AI-generated deepfakes and privacy concerns.

Incidents such as the creation of non-consensual nude images of students using AI have occurred in the US. Furthermore, AI models can inherit biases from their training data, leading to gender, religious, or racial prejudice. The extensive data collection required for AI also raises significant privacy issues. Experts like Tsai Chin-hsiung from Taiwan's National Academy for Educational Research emphasize that the key is not to ban AI but to cultivate students' curiosity, adaptability, critical thinking, and analytical skills, alongside establishing clear guidelines for safe AI use.

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The key is not to reject AI, but to cultivate students' curiosity, adaptability, and critical and analytical abilities, and to establish safe usage norms.