What does it mean to work and learn in an age of strong AI / AGI?

I recently gave a keynote at the ASU/GSV Conference looking at what science fiction predicts will happen as we live with strong AI and use it in education and learning…

Scifi predicts:

• Paradigms for how AI will influence education and learning
• Technologies we are likely to see develop
• Examples of education, schools or learning paths that might work

Method:

1. 6,000,000 goodreads reviews
2. An expert curated dataset of 108 concepts in science fiction
3. NLP, semantic matching
4. https://map.openmappr.org/100YrsOfSciFi/

Themes include:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Augmentation
• Social Structures
• Mind / neural software
• Human Control

Paradigms for how AI will influence education and learning

1. Augmentation

Many sci-fi books look at augmentation in general

• Software
• Hardware

Common Issues:

• Central control and assessment — almost always seems evil
• Irreversibility — one way paths into augmentation are bad

2. Public or Private-interest and control of Artificial Intelligence

• Who has access?
• The last Emperox
• Who has control?
• Neuromancer
• Who can destroy it?
• Dune, The Butlerian Jihad books
• How is it governed?
• Nexus (private)
• Sovereign state vs public goal setting
• Ender’s Game vs
• Ready Player One

3. Deep Fakes and Truthiness

Books: Player of games, Fall or Dodge in Hell, The Capture

The ability to deep fake is a central theme in many books. Because media is so easy to manipulate, new methods of assessing veracity, specifically human witnesses, are required.

Humans still only trust other humans in real life, every digital is at risk.

4. Community (and School) Across Borders

Books: A Fire Upon the Deep, the Years of Rice and Salt, Ready Player One

While this might seem obvious given hacker culture and social media, with stronger artificial intelligence, those chosen communities will have greater ability to interact, create, and govern across historic physical and legal boundaries.

For example, cryptocurrencies mean certain populations can control their financial dealings. Zoom means people can communicate 1:n as they need. Initiatives like Code-in-Place show how cohorts can learn and work across cultural and geographic boundaries.

Technologies we are likely to see develop

1. Ubiquitous Augmented Reality

Books: Nexus, Feed

We’re already seeing this with devices like Humane…and with Apple’s new VR headset.

But expect wifi-enabled, AR with instant data about common places, plants, able to answer queries.

Likely facial / emotion recognition will develop, with associated issues for neurodivergent / diverse teachers and learners.

2. eButlers / Digital Twins

Books: Neuromancer, Pandora’s Star, The Last Emperox, Rainbow’s End, 2312

Ethical Identity Rights — When creating digital copies or consciousness, are they independent beings with rights, or are they mere extensions of their human originals?

Continuous Learning and Adaptation — Digital twins should not only replicate the initial state of their subjects but also have the capability to learn and adapt over time. They will naturally diverge from their creator…

Security and Privacy — Unauthorized access could lead to identity theft, manipulation…

Augmented Learning — Digital twins and e-butlers can be used to augment educational experiences, providing personalized learning and access to information in innovative ways.

Transparency in AI Decision-Making — Understanding the rationale behind AI decisions is crucial for trust and accountability, especially when these entities act as advisors or caretakers.

3. Centralized High Stakes Assessments

Books: Anthem, The Testing, Gattaca, Ender’s Game

Build redemption / models of forgetting into the system — Many dystopian novels around how harmful a one-size fits all, or no-way-out testing scenario plays out.

Personalization AND Orchestration both needed — When doing personalized learning at scale, you need a way to orchestrate information and cohorts back together. Too much personalization creates isolation.

4. Wands, Spells, Familiars

Harry Potter might not sound like a real education scenario BUT a bunch of highly likely tech coming:

• Internet of Things in public and private spaces — ubiquitous and with elite access tiers
• Wands — kind of like what phones do — personal devices which have unique abilities in public and private spaces, can unlock doors, summon avatars, call drone swarms, make us invisible to cameras etc..
• Spells — the ability to utter a unique phrase which is tied to our biomarkers and which activates our IoT in a unique
• Familiars — Animal language synthesis using AI. Projects like the Earth Species Project are decoding animal language. We might have a much closer relationship to our pets than we ever thought…Or fury robots vs digital twins or AI tutors might be the chosen embodiment of AI for daily help and socio-emotional support

Examples of education, schools or learning paths that might work

Humans in the Loop are better

Books: The Diamond Age

Much has been written about The Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer. AI Tutors have most often referenced this book. Two unique factors:

• Personalized learning
• Human in the Loop

Most people miss the fact that it’s the human in the loop, one who cares for their learner, that is the differentiator.

• People
• Love

Meditation, Mentorship, bell-curve teaching

Book: Dune

High-tech and zero-tech environments.

Rich assessment — Test in ways which strategically aids learning, like real-world tests.

Multidimensional learning spaces — Learners develop cognition in physical contexts.

Apprenticeship relationships — Model excellence + a personal emotional relationship.

Use of World 3 Objects — Learners need to understand their skills, capabilities, and beliefs are cognitive assets.

In Summary:

Living with AI involves

• Augmentation
• Who controls AI goals and compute?
• Deep fakes
• Localization = community > not geolocation

Next wave of tech

• Ubiquitous Augmented Reality
• Digital Companions beyond formal education
• Centralized high-stakes assessment
• IoT Magic

Education scenarios we should just agree to adopt

• Humans in the Loop are Better
• Integrate Mentoring and Meditation
• High-tech and zero-tech pedagogy