International Forum on AI and Education: Steering AI To Empower Teachers and Transform Teaching, 5–6 December 2022; Analytical Report

The International Forum on AI and Education has contributed ‘to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture’ (UNESCO, 1945). The Forum has now become the world’s leading event promoting knowledge-sharing, the understanding of peoples, and the achievement of international agreements, in the fast-developing and increasingly impactful field of AI and education. The fourth edition of the International Forum on Artificial Intelligence and Education aimed to foster knowledge sharing specifically on how to steer the design and use of AI to empower teachers and to transform teaching methodologies within the broad framework of digital transformation of education. The Forum sought to bring together a range of expertise and experiences across the globe, and, in keeping with UNESCO priorities, a special focus was placed on Africa. A total of 16 national strategies were presented at the Forum by the various national ministers and representatives invited to attend. The national strategies shared during the Forum also unveiled the varying levels of preparedness and policy responses toward AI across different regions, a reminder that the pre-existing digital divide still underpins the system-wide uptake and integration of AI in education. Therefore, not all of the strategies were directly related to or containing AI because some areas that were represented at the conference are still at the nascent stages of AI Strategy development. The presentations of national initiatives and strategies related to AI from these countries shed light on the general awareness of policy-makers on the impact of AI in education and the commitment of national governments to fostering AI competencies among students and teachers. This report focus on the following key themes: national strategies on AI and education; critical reviews of roles of AI in the digital transformation of education; ethical principles and their implementation with a specific focus on gender equality; AI competencies for teachers, and notable algorithms or AI platforms and AI-informed pedagogies. The report concludes with considerations for the future based on the authors’ own analysis of the key role of human teachers, steering the human-centered approach, mainstreaming gender equity, designing education-specific AI models and innovative pedagogy, and ensuring human agency in defining problems and designing solutions.a