Banning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education risks shutting down conversations about how to innovate in pedagogy, according to a learning expert at Google Deepmind.
Miriam Schneider, director of learning initiatives in the technology firm’s main AI research division, said that AI does not have to “change pedagogy” but instead can “reinforce it”.
As many universities grapple with how best to approach the use of AI in assessments and learning, the “confrontation” between “what should remain uniquely human” and what can be done by AI “can have a meaningful role to play”, she told Times Higher Education.
“It basically gives us this opportunity for reflective pause and to be able to grapple with some of those bigger questions that we mostly just sort of assumed.
“I think it will accelerate conversations around what the design of school systems will look like to best embrace more holistic learning for students, opposed to just knowledge transfer,” said Schneider, who has worked across Google for over 20 years, moving to Deepmind, the company’s main AI research laboratory that funds various scholarships and funding for university research, last September.
