UNESCO to convene expert’s round table on opportunities and risks of generative AI for education in Asia-Pacific

The UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) are delighted to announce that a regional expert’s round table, ‘Empowering Minds: A Round Table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific’, will be held in Bangkok, from 7 to 9 November 2023. 

The round table seeks to leverage opportunities and reduce risks in education in Asia-Pacific which are currently being posed by the emergence of generative AI. Round table discussions among experts will explore, in particular, the implications of generative AI for teacher training and professional development, thus serving as an important platform to exchange ideas, experiences, and practices towards optimizing the use of generative AI towards enhancing teaching and learning for the present and the future.

The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from its inception in the 1950s to the present has occasioned significant changes in many disciplines, not least of all in research and education. Cloud computing, big data, and algorithmic innovation especially have led to significant impacts across various domains, perhaps the most notable among them being the specific type of artificial intelligence known as ‘generative AI’, which refers to the use of AI to create new content, including audio, code, images, complex text, simulations, and videos.

Generative AI applications, among them ChatGPT and Anthropic Claude—to name only two among a growing number entering the market—present education stakeholders in government and civil society alike with new opportunities to fundamentally reshape education systems with newfound powers to process information rapidly, to answer complex questions, and to provide human-like responses in all of education’s deliverables.

Like most new technologies, however, generative AI applications also signal the arrival of new kinds of risk and potential misuse among educators and learners, raising urgent ethical concerns around issues of, for instance, academic integrity and ‘algorithmic bias’. 

To envision transformations in the future of education, and to promptly address new challenges brought on by AI’s recent and rapid ascendance, UNESCO has recently made significant contributions at the global level. For example, UNESCO has devised numerous guidelines for policy-makers and Member States in the open-access publication, Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education (2021), which underscores a widespread need to comprehensively evaluate the biases and blind spots of our current digital research methods from a lens of justice and equity—if we are to truly account for what lies beyond the immediate purview of AI and its particular kind of programming. Additionally, UNESCO drafted a Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021), as well as a primer, the ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Quick Start Guide (2023), to mobilize Member States in devising a coordinated approach towards addressing the education challenges and opportunities brought on by generative AI and the growing array of ‘chat’ applications increasingly available to learners and teachers. UNESCO's advocacy and consultative efforts in this area are aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) of Quality Education, which upholds the importance of providing equitable and inclusive learning opportunities to all through innovative technologies.

Building upon UNESCO's pioneering efforts in shaping the discourse on the ethical use of AI in education and leveraging generative AI, the upcoming 'Empowering Minds’ round table aims to take these discussions to a regional level. This round table will serve as a participatory, collaborative platform for experts, educators, and stakeholders to delve into the challenges and opportunities that generative AI brings to teacher training, professional development, and education systems in the Asia-Pacific region. The round table underscores UNESCO’s commitment to ensuring that the transformative power of AI is harnessed to advance the cause of equitable and inclusive education, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) of Quality Education.

An earlier call for participants/submissions to the Empowering Minds round table (now closed) attracted specialists in AI and generative AI who are leading or contributing to policy and practice in this domain.

In response to the emerging challenges in the region, the following themes will guide presentations and discussions:

• Introduction of the current state of generative AI and its implications for education in the Asia-Pacific region  
• Potential solutions and good practices pertaining to how generative AI is integrated in teaching and learning
• Benefits and risks of generative AI in education 
• Empowering educators and learners with skills and competency to integrate generative AI in teaching and learning
• Policy recommendations and future directions for inclusive and equitable access to AI in education

The overarching purpose of this expert’s round table is to inform and guide the transformation of education systems in the Asia-Pacific region by: 1) Exploring implications for responsible and ethical integration of generative AI in teaching and learning, with a focus on ChatGPT and other emerging technologies; and 2) Enhancing the capacities of educators to utilize AI competencies in teaching and learning at the school level, optimizing potential benefits and minimizing risks. By fostering dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaboration among diverse stakeholders, the round table aims to facilitate the responsible and equitable adoption of AI-driven teaching and learning in the region by:

• Enhancing capacity for the integration of generative AI in education: Participants will be provided resources prior to the meeting; opportunities to participate in a ‘learning lab’ on ChatGPT and become acquainted with its implications for teaching and learning; and an opportunity to exchange potential solutions, practices and ideas with generative AI specialists and practitioners. 
• Enabling inclusive and equitable access to AI-driven education: Identify strategies and approaches for ensuring that all learners, regardless of their socioeconomic status, gender, or location, have equal access to the benefits of generative AI in education.
• Empowering educators and learners with useful skills and competences for the productive use of generative AI in their pedagogical and learning practices.
• Fostering a hub of continuous learning via open dialogue and knowledge exchange: Enable dialogue, learning, and collaboration among stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region, to better understand the challenges, potential benefits, and risks associated with generative AI, especially regarding the responsible and inclusive use of generative AI in education. 

The expected outputs from the expert’s round table include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Outcome document with recommendations for responsible, inclusive and equitable implementation of AI in teaching and learning, expressly to guide Member States in preparing AI-driven educational action plans and strategies that optimize benefits and mitigate risks.
• Identification of strategies to enhance educator’s and learner’s competences to effectively incorporate generative AI in pedagogy and learning.
• Informed awareness on how generative AI platforms can reinforce curriculums, teacher preparedness, pedagogies, and assessments to enhance learning. 
• Knowledge exchange and learning networks established within the Asia-Pacific region regarding generative AI in the education sector.

The Empowering Minds round table is organized by the Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development (EISD); the Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Unit; and the Communication and Information (CI) Unit of the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, in collaboration with The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO).

All registered participants are invited to both the all-day Pre-meeting on 7 November 2023 and the two-day Regional Experts Round Table, from 8 to 9 November 2023.

Pre-meeting, 7 November: The proceedings of the three-day meeting will commence with a ‘Learning Lab on Generative AI’, using Chat GPT, for educators and learners, on the first day, which will serve as an introductory, hands-on experience for participants before their delving into the two-day ‘Roundtable Experts Meeting’ from 8 to 9 November.

Regional Expert’s Round Table, 8–9 November 2023: This segment will focus on the following themes and aims:

• Stock-taking of state-of-the-art policy and practices pertaining to the use of generative AI in education, and the identification of tools and resources currently available to teachers and students
• Opportunities and benefits of generative AI in education, such as in personalized learning, teacher preparations, AI-driven assessment, and so forth
• Challenges, risks and ethical considerations of generative AI in education, such as data privacy and governance, and algorithmic bias
• Policy recommendations and future directions for responsible generative AI adoption in education, specifically in teaching and learning in school settings

Click here to see the profiles of speakers and panelists.*

^{* This document will be available online for three months after the event announcement was first published. To access the document after that, please write to Future of Learning Meeting Secretariat at learning.future(at)unesco.org.}  

The Empowering Minds Learning Lab and Regional Expert’s Round Table will bring together leading researchers, policy-makers, practitioners, teachers, youth, university administrators and researchers, and diverse education stakeholders to discuss the emergent trends of generative AI and education technology advancements in the Asia-Pacific region. 

The round table will be accompanied by the exhibition, Generative AI and Teaching and Learning, organized by UNESCO and SEAMEO. This is an opportunity to delve deep into the nexus of AI and education, for fostering insightful discussion and knowledge sharing with materials contributed by the organizers and participants, including publications, policy and strategy documents, toolkits, audio-visual materials, and other items which shed light on AI's role and impact on education, and dovetail with the themes to be discussed at this event. 

*** Please note that registration for this Round Table is now closed. ***

Time: 7–9 November 2023; 

Venue: Hybrid, with in-person meetings in Bangkok, Thailand

Working Language: English

Please contact Ms Faryal Khan, Ms Ling Tan, and Ms Cai Danting, at learning.future(at)unesco.org.

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