Making the Human Connection to Algorithms is a Monumentous Task

A Letter from Guest Editor, Belinha De Abreu, PhD  

Arriving at this journal topic and the many articles therein came from a variety of conversations, conferences, and meetings that were discussing the issue related to artificial intelligence and the algorithm. In exploring the possibilities of where technology was taking us, it became clear that the next step would delve into an area that was just beginning to take hold in different spaces and communities. While the possibilities that these technologies offered seem monumentous, so have many other technologies. The difference is that AI which impacts the algorithm, and frankly many of the issues that we see in the evolving nature of our world through technologies, has made people wary. Ethical concerns have arisen from how the programming of AI impacts an individual to how the individual may impact AI. More importantly, the human connection which has been fundamental to our society has been highlighted. The concern for where the lines are drawn as to how we will individually and societally be impacted to the ethical questions about how humanity will be played against AI. The basics of bias and the recognition that AI can be less discerning and perhaps even controlling or manipulating the technological and even non-technological spaces.

We know that AI exists already in small forms all around us. We acknowledge their presence in security cameras and that has led to questions of breaches of privacy. We see it in the work that is being done in aeronautics, medicine, and in education. At the same time, with the revelation of how artificial intelligence understands data, we know that a problem is already at play with the securing that information as well as the acknowledgement that the AI itself may be corrupted and not accurate. Much of this point is noted with films such as “Coded Bias,” “The Social Dilemma,”  and “The Great Hack” as well as others that look at the implications of the algorithm when it is segmented or populizing an idea that “it” (the algorithm or the AI) perceives as wanted or desirable by the user.

Further, information can be manipulated so that the user never sees any other ideas other than the ones dictated by the coder. Consider the information that was provided to us via Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower, who is working to make AI and the algorithm accountable through massive social media platforms. In her address to congress over the course of several months, she was able to show through documentation that the optimization of engagement was done systematically and with knowledge by analysts. The lack of transparency around this event demonstrated how little the users of the platforms knew or controlled about their personal information or privacy.  The hearings that followed were in place to incentivise change and also finally put into place some preventative measures such as laws or liability code that would hold the social networks accountable (Johnson 2021). Thus far, not much has changed.

As related to education, there is always concern regarding how these types of technologies can be used. The excitement of having a new technology tool at the disposal of educators and student learners automatically opens the door to the classroom. Already there are discussions widely of another technology that can transform learning for the future. However, those conversations have always been present from the onset of computers and even the iPad which was originally proposed as being a game changer in education-, although that proved to not be true (Tynan-Wood 2016 and Singer 2017).  There is discussion about what AI can offer to innovation, especially our young innovators.  The need for this type of instruction is already based on the idea that the future will be driven by AI services and devices. This statement is true enough as we already have tools in our homes which have AI capabilities from conversational AI such as Amazon’s Alexa or the iPhone’s Siri as well as other industrial tools such as the iRobot Roomba which cleans your home. What does that mean for our students?  Early adopters of these types of technologies especially in education tend to look at tools as positive. By the same token, other educators will look at these tools with reticence because of the concerns that with each new technology something is lost. The question remains where these tools will take us necessary to this continued conversation.

Despite the fast-paced growth and the evidence that AI is present in many places, a continued response and understanding of the implications that this type of technology will have in our lives in and out of the classroom. Balance will be the key for addressing rising concerns as well as excitement in this area.  Moreover, it is not one directional or without motivation which is also why the algorithm must be studied as a progression of the nature of data and information on the human connection. A report from the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences, a hub for National Science Foundation in 2020 stated:

We do not yet know all of the uses and applications of AI that will emerge; new innovations are appearing regularly and the most consequential applications of AI to education are likely not even invented yet. In a future where technology is ubiquitous in education, AI will also become pervasive in learning, teaching, and assessment. Now is the time to begin responding to the novel capabilities and challenges this will bring. (Roschelle, Lester & Fusco 2020).

It is almost four years later and this statement is still true.

References:

Johnson, K. (2021, December 2). The movement to hold AI accountable gains more steam.” Wired. Retrieved: https://www.wired.com/story/movement-hold-ai-accountable-gains-steam/.

Roschelle, J., Lester, J. & Fusco, J. (Eds.) (2020). AI and the future of learning: Expert panel report [Report]. Digital Promise. https://circls.org/reports/ai-report.

Singer, N. (2017, March  2). Apple devices lose luster in American classrooms. New York Times. Retrieved: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/technology/apple-products-schools-education.html.

Tynan-Wood, C. (2016. March 7).  “IPads in the Classroom: The Promise and the Problems.” Great Schools. Retrieved: https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/ipad-technology-in-the-classroom/.