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Empowering Minds: A Round Table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific The emergence of generative AI, a recent groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technology capable of producing sophisticated content from text and images to simulations and audiovisuals, has become a transformative force across multiple sectors. Popular applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude are prime examples of the rapidly expanding range of generative AI tools that are having an impact in education across the Asia-Pacific. These tools offer unprecedented opportunities for enabling personalized learning experiences at scale and expanding access to high-quality learning resources. However, as generative AI increasingly reshapes classrooms, critical questions remain unanswered, such as:- How can generative AI be ethically and responsibly integrated into educational settings?- What policies and safeguards are needed to address issues like misinformation, algorithmic bias and threats to academic integrity?- What challenges do Asia-Pacific countries face in harnessing generative AI in education, given the region’s unique context?- What are the strategies for Asia-Pacific countries to take up opportunities offered by generative AI, while mitigating the risks? In response to these questions and emerging challenges in the region, the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok), in collaboration with The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), organized the regional experts meeting on 7-9 November 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. This hybrid meeting, titled ‘Empowering Minds: A Round Table on Generative AI and Education in Asia-Pacific’, explored the implications of generative AI for teacher training and development. It served as an important platform to leverage opportunities and mitigate risks of generative AI in education across the Asia-Pacific region. 
Inside AI - An Algorithmic Adventure Year of publication: 2022 Author: Katherine Evans Corporate author: UNESCO In the framework of UNESCO’s work to harness emerging technologies for sustainable development, this graphic novel for policymakers as well as youth explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence on humankind. Dive into the world of AI and follow the adventures of four characters whose lives are affected by algorithmic hazards: By following characters in four different corners of the globe as they grapple with the limits of AI technologies, the audience jointly embarks on a mission in an algorithmic galaxy called Plethor.A.I.. There, they have but one option: travel across this hidden world behind our screens to learn about the social, technical, ethical and human rights impacts of Artificial Intelligence, and help the characters find a way back to reality.UNESCO’s first graphic novel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) aims at providing an educational media to policymakers, adults and youth who are curious and interested in learning more about AI, its challenges and stakes. 
Ethical Impact Assessment: A Tool of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO As stated in article 50 of UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (UNESCO, 2021), the goal of this instrument is to “identify and assess benefits, concerns and risks of AI systems, as well as appropriate risk prevention, mitigation, redressal and monitoring measures, among other assurance mechanisms. Such assessments should identify the impacts on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular but not limited to the rights of people in vulnerable and precarious situations, labour rights, the environment and ecosystems and ethical and social implications, and facilitate citizen participation in line with the values and principles set forth in this Recommendation”. This instrument is primarily designed to help government officials (individuals and teams) involved in the procurement of AI systems. The goal of the methodology is to equip procurement officers with the set of questions to ask in order to ensure that the AI systems they are purchasing are aligned with the ethical standards set out in the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. 
Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: UNESCO This Recommendation addresses ethical issues related to the domain of Artificial Intelligence to the extent that they are within UNESCO’s mandate. The protection of human rights and dignity is the cornerstone of this Recommendation. It is based on the advancement of fundamental principles such as transparency and fairness, and remembers the importance of human oversight of AI systems. However, what makes the Recommendation exceptionally applicable are its extensive Policy Action Areas, which allow policymakers to translate the core values and principles into action with respect to data governance, environment and ecosystems, gender, education and research, and health and social wellbeing, among many other spheres. 
UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Key Facts Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO This brochure is a summary of "Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence". The Recommendation addresses ethical issues related to the domain of Artificial Intelligence to the extent that they are within UNESCO’s mandate. With its unique mandate, UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector has led the international effort to ensure that science and technology develop with strong ethical guardrails for decades. AI technology brings major benefits in many areas, but without the ethical guardrails, it risks reproducing real world biases and discrimination, fueling divisions and threatening fundamental human rights and freedoms. The Recommendation establishes a set of values in line with the promotion and protection of human rights, human dignity, and environmental sustainability. It advances essential principles such as transparency, accountability, and the rule of law online. It also includes concrete policy chapters that call for better governance of data, gender equality, and important aspects of AI applications on education, culture, labour markets, the environment, communication and information, health and social well-being, and the economy. Unlike other international instruments, the Recommendation includes monitoring and evaluation chapters and means for implementation in the form of a Readiness Assessment and the Ethical Impact Assessment to ensure real change on the ground. 
International Forum on AI and Education: Steering AI To Empower Teachers and Transform Teaching, 5–6 December 2022; Analytical Report Year of publication: 2023 Author: Fengchun Miao | Kelly Shiohira | Zaahedah Vally | Wayne Holmes Corporate author: UNESCO | JET Education Services 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 
International Forum on AI and Education: Ensuring AI as a Common Good To Transform Education, 7–8 December 2021; Synthesis Report Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: UNESCO The ‘International Forum on AI and the Futures of Education: Ensuring AI as a Common Good to Transform Education’ was co-organized by UNESCO, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, and the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO. Building on the previous ‘AI and the Futures of Education’ forums, held in 2019 and 2020, this 2021 forum set out to explore the importance and role of digital humanism in AI and education. With people and governments worldwide becoming increasingly aware of both the potential and the challenges of AI and education, the forum engaged participants in dialogue about how AI governance and innovation can be enhanced for the common good. Forum participants included government ministers and other high-level ministry officials from Member States, together with representatives of international organizations, NGOs and academic institutions.This synthesis report has been developed by drawing from the International Forum on AI and the Futures of Education held in Beijing and simultaneously online from 7 to 8 December 2021. 
Readiness Assessment Methodology: A Tool of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO In November 2021, the 193 Member States of UNESCO signed the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first global normative instrument in its domain. The Recommendation serves as a comprehensive and actionable framework for the ethical development and use of AI, encompassing the full spectrum of human rights. It does so by maintaining focus on all stages of the AI system lifecycle. Beyond elaborating the values and principles that should guide the ethical design, development and use of AI, the Recommendation lays out the actions required from Member States to ensure the upholding of such values and principles, through advocating for effective regulation and providing recommendations in various essential policy areas, such as gender, the environment, and communication and information. With these values, principles, and policy areas in mind, the UNESCO Secretariat elaborated a programme for the implementation of the Recommendation, with the core aim of building national capacities to discharge the actions set out in the Recommendation and bolster regulatory frameworks. The Recommendation mandated the development of two key tools, the Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) and the Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA), which form the core pillars of the implementation. These tools both aim to assess and promote the resilience of existing laws, policies and institutions to AI implementation in the country, as well as the alignment of AI systems with the values and principles set out in the Recommendation. The goal of this document is to provide more information on the Readiness Assessment Methodology, lay out its various dimensions, and detail the work plan for the implementing countries, including the type of entities that need to be involved, responsibilities of each entity, and the split of work between UNESCO and the implementing country. 
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence in an era of generative AI Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO <Short summary>Experiments reveal how generative AI facilitates gender-based violence Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) — deep-learning models that create voice, text, and image — are revolutionizing the way people access information and produce, receive and interact with content. While technological innovations like ChatGPT, DALL-E and Bard offer previously unimaginable gains in productivity, they also present concerns for the overall protection and promotion of human rights and for the safety of women and girls.The arrival of generative AI introduces new, unexplored questions: what are the companies’ policies and normative cultures that perpetuate technology-facilitated gender-based violence and harms? How do AI-based technologies facilitate gender-specific harassment and hate speech? What “prompt hacks” can lead to gendered disinformation, hate speech, harassment, and attacks? What measures can companies, governments, civil society organisations and independent researchers take to anticipate and mitigate these risks?A combination of measures are proposed to be put in place by generative AI companies and the technology companies that platform them, regulators and policy makers, by civil society organisations and independent researchers, as well as users. 
Eduaction in the Age of Articial Intelligence (The UNESCO Courier no. 4, October-December 2023) Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO At a time when the field of education is in worldwide ferment, a single instructional phenomenon has captured the attention not only of professionals but of laymen.” Does the innovation in question refer to artificial intelligence (AI), or to the use of augmented reality in the classroom? Neither one. This quote is from an article in The UNESCO Courier about “teaching machines”, a set of programmes developed in the USA to guide students in their learning. It dates back to… March 1965. Which just goes to show that pondering the role of computers in learning is nothing new. Whether lauded or decried, technologies are increasingly part of the school landscape, at least in industrialized countries. Digital learning games, online tutorials or massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become a reality for a growing number of pupils and students. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the phenomenon, spurring the rise, including in Africa, of companies specializing in digital educational services, the so-called “edtechs”. Yet no matter how sophisticated these technologies may be, they have not challenged the founding principle of a teacher giving a class simultaneously to a group of students. Artificial intelligence could be a game-changer. Does the arrival of content-generating tools like ChatGPT and intelligent tutorials mean the oft-heralded revolution has started? In any case, the use of generative AI in learning presents unprecedented challenges to education systems. As UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 highlights, these new tools can prove invaluable in providing personalized support for students, particularly those with disabilities or living in remote areas. But they also raise questions about the digital divide, data confidentiality and the preponderance of major global corporations in this sector. And for the moment, safeguards are lacking. It is therefore urgent that regulations be adopted to ensure the use of AI in education remains human-centred, in the best interests of students. To support this, UNESCO published in September 2023 the first-ever Guidance for generative AI in education and research, designed to address the disruptions caused by these technologies. It complements other tools produced by the Organization, including the Recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence and a guidance for policy-makers on AI and education, both published in 2021.