Japan rolls out guidelines on artificial intelligence usage in schools

Tokyo, Jul 4 (EFE).- Japan’s Education Ministry published on Tuesday an update of its school guidelines, giving the approval for a limited use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT among students, state broadcaster NHK reported.

The new guidelines recognize the importance of students gaining an adequate understanding of AI and its uses, but also underline concerns about the negative effect of these technologies on critical thinking and other skills.

The guidelines place special emphasis on limiting the use of AI by students, and advocated considering assignments that use AI as plagiarism.

Improper practices that should be considered inadmissible in schools include the use of AI during examinations or other assessments, while their use for foreign language conversation classes is seen as a good option, among other examples.

The document also suggested that teachers show cases of incorrect answers given by AI to make students aware of its nature, risks and limitations.

These guidelines are aimed at primary, secondary and higher education schools and are provisional.

The ministry plans to select a number of secondary and higher schools between now and autumn on a pilot basis to review the impact of the AI guidelines.

Japan hopes the use of AI will contribute to improving school results, but it carries risks such as leak of personal data or copyright infringement, and could also undermine students’ creativity and motivation to learn, according to the guidelines.

The document also points out the importance of educating children in the ethical aspects associated with the use of AI, and alerting them against introducing personal data in these tools.

Generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT use extensive data from the internet that may be processed to simulate human conversations or create images. EFE

mra/sc