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For: Valerie Chiu, 15, St Mary’s Canossian College
Artificial intelligence (AI) will gradually be incorporated into every aspect of the school curriculum. However, the technology is risky. Misuse can lead to misinformation, biased content and harmful outcomes.
As AI can be connected to most subjects, the ethics of AI should not be its own separate class. Rather, it should be touched on in every existing subject. To ensure that every teacher is qualified to teach about AI, all educators should be trained.
If teachers are not trained in AI ethics, students will continue to uncritically use systems that amplify biases present in their training data.
The information AI obtains might be unrepresentative of a marginalised group, discouraging inclusivity and equality. If users do not make an effort to think critically, they will digest inaccurate information and fail to be just and fair.
Providing proper education to students about the ethics of AI will ensure young people do not cross any lines. It will help create a fair, transparent and inclusive community where AI is solely a tool for maximising efficiency, not one that hinders development.
For example, using AI ethically can mean refusing to use it to plagiarise texts. Instead, it can be used to identify grammatical errors and suggest alternative synonyms. Students may also use it to simplify websites that are needlessly complex as long as they also practise fact-checking.
To help students become informed about AI ethics, they need to be educated about the topic. Unfortunately, social media platforms and websites are filled with diverse voices and thoughts from anyone with internet access. Some may be misleading and promote irresponsible use of AI. Thus, schools are the best places to learn about AI ethics.
Being trained to teach AI ethics will mean educators will have substantial knowledge about the subject. They will be able to apply what they have learned to leverage the tool while teaching their students about AI’s dangers and benefits. Training educators will help ensure AI is not used in a way that harms society.
Against: Tiffany Taw, 14, German Swiss International School
With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, the Education Bureau has recently announced that it will intensify its digital education efforts. This will include teaching students and teachers about the ethics of AI.
AI is a double-edged sword that students should be educated about. However, Hong Kong should not require all educators to be trained to teach about AI ethics.
First and foremost, Hong Kong teachers already face heavy workloads. According to a 2021 survey by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, 35.3 per cent of secondary school teachers work more than 60 hours a week and 14.5 per cent work 71 hours or above a week.
In a separate survey by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, 90 per cent of the 1,255 kindergarten teachers and principals interviewed reported long hours and stress.
The excessive time required to prepare material and teach AI ethics would detract from teachers’ primary subject responsibilities, potentially making their core lessons less effective.
AI ethics also does not apply to every subject. It mainly affects humanities, English and computer science and is not as relevant to the arts and physical education. Training should be optional or targeted to certain fields.
Implementing mandatory training for all educators would require significant government funding, which could be allocated to more important needs.
Even if the budget is sufficient, AI is a rapidly evolving field, and by the time appropriate training programmes are developed, key concepts could become outdated. In turn, newer programmes would need to be made. This also makes standardisation difficult.
While it is undeniable that AI ethics is important, forcing all Hong Kong teachers to undergo this training would be unnecessary and potentially counterproductive. It would overburden already exhausted educators.
Instead, the government should offer targeted training to educators in relevant subjects and integrate ethics into their classes. This way, students can learn about ethics without compromising educators’ health or the quality of their teaching.
