According to Harvard Graduate School of Education, the big takeaway from a report on teen and young adult perspectives on generative artificial intelligence (AI) is that “the world is changing.” Additionally, according to the report, students have quickly developed habits, concerns, and opinions about AI and how its use influences learning and the world at large.
St. Lucia Times recently spoke with two students who had participated in a Global South AI summit held here. They both agreed that the world is indeed changing and that the question is not why AI, but how to integrate it into existing systems to improve our quality of life.
Sade Gustave is the president of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Students Council and Shyne Savory acting VP and PRO.
They first shared their perspectives, on what they believed AI to be.
“AI can be summarised as the systems of programing used to assist in making everyday tasks more efficient,” Gustave says. “I think what everyone thinks of first these days is ChatGPT, but even before that we had coding, the programmes that assist in medical imaging, in diagnosing different diseases, that streamline processes in terms of search engines, that bring up information when you do a quick Google search,” she adds.
“In addition, in around 2020, 2022 that is the point that AI-generated images and ChatGPT and other AI-generated content started really making a mark, but its been used for a longer time than that,” Savory says.
“It’s why we have been able to have Google translate, GPSs and other tools. So when we talk about AI it is not exactly the newest thing and it goes far beyond how ubiquitous it has now become,” she expressed.
The two Sir Arthur Lewis Community College students also weighed in on the fears and apprehensions some now have about AI.
“I think that with every set of new innovation and technology, this happens. To that I say, in as much as you may be fearful of what is to come or what might come out of AI, I do believe it is important to be informed, embrace the change, focus on the benefits and let us face it, it is already here,” Gustave says.
For Savory, what is of paramount importance is to have the regulatory instruments in place as well as proper Intellectual Property laws to negate some of the negative effects AI may come with to protect citizens from these.
She says that to have been part of the recent Global South Summit was important to discuss the future development and chart the way forward.
Both students agree that if AI tools are properly integrated into the education system and other areas such as healthcare, agriculture and tourism, the benefits can be significant.
On Thursday, during CXC’s 2024 Awards Ceremony in Saint Lucia, Dr. Wayne Wesley, Registrar and CEO of CXC underscored the necessary introduction of AI to create a greater critical mass of excellence.
CXC, Wesley said, was agile in its response to producing a generative AI policy for the regional secondary school system.
“CXC’s intention in developing this generative AI policy, is to assist the entire regional secondary education system, to catch up, to embed within it and within their own institutional policy in our learning administration delivery systems, to make learning more exciting, learning more fun, learning more engaging and learning more fulfilling and to radically improve the performance of the critical mass of our students and our schools,” Wesley stated.
