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June 2023 - Education

Less than 10% of educational institutions have formal guidance on generative AI applications: A global survey by UNESCO, which has been working to help schools and universities around the world to steer the educational use of AI in humanistic directions, has found that less than 10% of educational institutions have developed institutional policies and/or formal guidance concerning the use of generative AI applications.

The research, which polled more than 450 schools and universities around the world (part of UNESCO networks of Associated Schools and University Chairs), was conducted ahead of the Ministerial Roundtable on Generative AI and Education, which took place in May 2023.

The survey also found that more universities than schools have guidance regarding the educational used of generative AI applications. Of all the institutions polled, just two said they had policies or guidance that constitute a 'ban' through which generative applications such as ChatGPT are completely, or largely prohibited.

The survey also revealed that for 40% of the schools and universities who reported having guidance around AI, guidance was not written, rather communicated verbally, which UNESCO says further illustrates the "ad-hoc nature of policy responses in education".

While 13% of universities surveyed said they had institutional policies or guidance, just 7% of schools said the same.  Furthermore, a fifth of respondents overall said that they were unsure about whether their workplace had policies or guidance around generative AI.

Sobhi Tawil, the UNESCO Director for the Future of Learning and Innovation, said of the research: “The survey results show that we are still very much in the wilderness when it comes to newly powerful generative AI and education. Institutions are not yet providing guidance or direction.

"Without institutional guidance of any sort, these technologies are likely to get welded into education systems in unplanned ways with uncertain implications and possible unintended consequences. Ideally, there will be serious reflection about their place and role, and then action to realise this vision. We cannot simply ignore the short- and medium-term implications of these technologies for safety, knowledge diversity, equity, and inclusion," he added.

The 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI provides general principles to anchor sector- and country-specific - rules and regulations.

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