Professor, Learning and Artificial Intelligence, University College London, the UK
Mutlu Cukurova is a Professor of Learning and Artificial Intelligence at University College London. Professor Cukurova investigates human-AI complementarity in education, aiming to address the pressing socio-educational challenge of preparing people for a future with AI systems that will require a great deal more than the routine cognitive skills currently prized by many education systems and traditional approaches to automation. Professor Cukurova is the Director of the UCLAIT team and works as an external expert on AI in Education for various international organisations including IAEA, the European Commission, and UNESCO. He was the programme co-chair of the International Conference of AI in Education in 2020 and CSEDU conference in 2022. He is currently serving as the editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Educational Technology and an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Child- Computer Interaction.
In most aspect of everyday life, AI is primarily a tool for productivity gains. Here, the focus is not on learning how to perform the task manually, but rather on achieving the most accurate or insightful results through the most efficient means available. In educational practice, effective engagement with the activity itself is the goal since learning how to perform a task or understand a concept is the primary objective. The use of AI in such settings is to enhance the learning process itself.
In this presentation, the speaker challenges the prevalent narrow conceptualisation of AI as tools exemplified in generative AI chatbots and argues for the importance of alternative conceptualisations of AI in Education. Using examples from his research, the speaker highlight the differences between human intelligence and artificial information processing; the importance of human-AI hybrid intelligence systems to extend human cognition; and posit that AI can also serve as an instrument for understanding human learning.
The presentation will conclude with advocacy for a broader approach to AI in Education that goes beyond considerations on the development of AI solutions in Education, but also includes educating people about AI and innovating educational systems to remain relevant in an AI-ubiquitous world.