Generative Technologies: Educating young people

"Education is a process of collective construction in which teachers and students are engaged in a dialogical process open to mutual learning. We learn from each other. We learn from students, we learn from the poor, we learn from the world. We teach them as well, in a cooperative way that values everything that students and the poor bring with them, their world, concrete experiences, and struggles for liberation. It is an educational process for critical consciousness, liberation, and human flourishing by which people create and recreate their world."

"Neutral societies and schools, which lack reference values and are uninvolved with any moral formation, do not develop participation. Nor, at the other extreme, does participation develop in societies or schools permeated by fundamentalist viewpoints. Rather, it flourishes in a climate of dialogue and mutual respect, in an educational setting where all are assured of being able to increase their capacities to the full, with the constant aim of pursuing the good of all. In this way, a constant climate of mutual trust, availability, of listening and of fruitful exchange can be developed, which must characterize the whole period of formation."

"Education is one of the most important ways by which the Church fulfills its commitment to the dignity of the person and the building of community. Community is central to educational ministry both as a necessary condition and an ardently desired goal. The educational efforts of the Church must therefore be directed to forming persons-in-community; for the education of the individual Christian is important not only to his solitary destiny but also to the destinies of the many communities in which he lives."

"I want a human future that remains in human control, where people make meaningful decisions that matter in shaping their world, and where we use technology to make us stronger, not to replace us. I want my daughter’s life to be easy, but also meaningful: abundant in intangibles like freedom and opportunity as well as tangibles like cheap food and water and power."

"There’s also a worry that that environments themselves will start to dictate human behavior, that we will not be allowed to be our full range of selves. That certainly comes up [in AI] with prescriptive environments as well as the pernicious concern over bias. In an educational setting, or from the standpoint of a young person who’s just coming into her or his own, the worry is that the learner doesn’t get the benefit of really developing in a way that is constructive. That instead, these environments are going to be too limiting."

"Teaching your children how to dismantle the dogma, propaganda, and detrimental narratives from entities that are uninvested in their well-being can help instill a strong foundation for practicing critical consciousness, enabling them to navigate a more liberated, intentional, and self-directed life."

"Given the human-like tone of chatbots, where the line between animate and inanimate blurs, what are the impacts on children’s development – and privacy – when they interact with these systems? Research indicates they may influence children’s perceptions and attributions of intelligence, their cognitive development, and social behaviour – especially during different developmental stages."

"Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents said they believe that AI will have a more negative than positive effect on society in the next 10 years. And 55% said AI will have a significant impact on personal privacy. Nearly two-thirds — 62% — are worried that AI will take away jobs they're interested in."

“Young people throughout history are more interested in new technologies than older folks are,” said Lee Rainie. “Younger folks are just sort of more inclined to be early adopters, they’re more inclined to be enthusiastic, they’re more inclined to think that older ways of doing things have been upgraded by new technologies.”

"A bedrock principle of cognitive science is that humans understand new ideas based on ideas we already know, i.e., knowledge that is stored in our long-term memory.22 Knowledge cannot be outsourced to AI, and students who have not built a broad base of knowledge will not be able to make best of use this new technology. Educators should continue to focus on building student knowledge across all subjects."

"AI holds the potential to improve the user’s experience and onboarding into health systems while reducing the stigma of mental health by offering a fundamentally nonjudgmental point of entry. Fascinating was the fact that minority groups benefited most from this technology, demonstrating the potential of digital tools to improve access for underserved communities."

"For those youths using generative AI, getting the AI to engage in mental health advisement is as easy as falling off a log. One moment a youth might be asking how to solve an algebraic equation, and the next moment they can be asking the AI about how to deal with their mental health concerns. Back and forth things go, smoothly and without missing a beat. There is no need for someone to explicitly proclaim that they want to use generative AI as a mental health advisor. It just happens and there aren’t any particular check-in requirements or other barriers to somehow deter it from occurring."

"Adolescent development is gradual and continuous, beginning with biological and neurological changes occurring before puberty is observable (i.e., approximately beginning at 10 years of age), and lasting at least until dramatic changes in youths’ social environment (e.g., peer, family, and school context) and neurological changes have completed (i.e., until approximately 25 years of age). Age-appropriate use of social media should be based on each adolescent’s level of maturity (e.g., self-regulation skills, intellectual development, comprehension of risks) and home environment."

"Ambient intelligence involves using contactless sensors and contact-based wearable devices embedded in health-care settings to collect data (eg, imaging data of physical spaces, audio data, or body temperature), coupled with machine learning algorithms to efficiently and effectively interpret these data. Despite the promise of ambient intelligence to improve quality of care, the continuous collection of large amounts of sensor data in healthcare settings presents ethical challenges, particularly in terms of privacy, data management, bias and fairness, and informed consent. Navigating these ethical issues is crucial not only for the success of individual uses, but for acceptance of the field as a whole."