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Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education

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The Department for Education (DfE) is committed to supporting the AI Opportunities Action Plan. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) presents exciting opportunities to improve people’s lives, including by making our public services better. AI will support with the delivery of the Plan for Change and our opportunity mission.

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Every teacher in England is set to benefit from new resources powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), supporting them to plan lessons and build classroom quizzes, and helping to reduce workloads.

The Government is investing up to £2 million in Oak National Academy, which was established to support teachers with high-quality curriculum resources online, to create new teaching tools using AI - marking the first step towards providing every teacher with a personalised AI lesson-planning assistant.

This follows a pilot of an AI-powered quiz builder and lesson planner. Thousands of teachers have already signed up to use these tools, helping them to create individualised content that is tailored to teaching their pupils and based on Oak's high-quality curriculum content.

This new cash boost will help Oak to improve these tools further before making them available to teachers across England for free.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

AI has extraordinary potential to reform our education system for the better, with considerable value for both teachers and students.

Oak National Academy's work to harness AI to free up the workload for teachers is a perfect example of the revolutionary benefits this technology can bring.

This investment will play a defining role in giving our children and the next generation of students a better education and a brighter future.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:

Throughout my career, I have seen the positive impact that technology can have, which is why it is great we're harnessing the potential of AI and supporting Oak National Academy to develop new resources for teachers.

Whether it's drafting lesson plans or producing high-quality teaching resources, I am confident that by tapping into the benefits of AI we will be able to reduce teachers' workloads so that they can focus on what they do best - teaching and supporting their pupils.

Teachers have provided positive feedback from the initial testing, noting the tools' ability to help them to speed up planning and refine existing materials.

One Year 4 teacher from Berkshire, who used the Quiz Designer stated: "Oak's AI tool has massively improved the quality and variety of quizzes I can create. And it's much faster than making them myself from scratch."

A secondary school teacher in Devon stated: "Oak's AI lesson planner offers a really helpful starting point if stuck or low on inspiration and I was particularly impressed at how good it is at highlighting common misconceptions."

With 30,000 teachers already using Oak every week, the resources will support teachers to save valuable time on planning.

Building on Oak's commitment to make resources available on Open Government Licence, the project will also provide access to Oak's curriculum resources for edtech companies experimenting with AI to build from this high-quality content. This means that any school, publisher or AI developer can be confident that any content produced through these tools will be accurate, safe, and high-quality.

Oak National Academy Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Matt Hood OBE, said:

Teachers spend hours each week searching for resources and planning their lessons. Oak National Academy is already helping cut workload with our free, high-quality teaching resources, but we believe we can supercharge this by harnessing safe AI - giving teachers even more scope to adapt their resources and freeing them up to spend more time directly with their pupils.

We're excited to build on our initial work and start to develop improved AI lesson planning tools, bringing the benefits to even more schools, and to help other organisations to innovate and create their own AI products, built off our safe, high-quality educational materials.

Today's (30 October) announcement coincides with the start of a two-day AI hackathon hosted by the Department for Education, in collaboration with Faculty AI, the National Institute of Teaching, and the AI in Schools Initiative. The event will bring together teachers and leaders from schools and trusts across England to experiment with AI.

Over the coming months, the Government will continue to work with teachers, and experts on the Workload Taskforce to develop solutions to minimise the time teachers spend working beyond their teaching hours. This will support its ambition to reduce working hours for teachers and leaders by five hours per week.

Next month, the Department for Education will also publish the results of its AI call for evidence. Launched to gather views from educational professionals on the risks, ethical considerations, and possibilities of AI in education, the results will support the government's work to identify AI's potential and ensure it advances in a safe, reasonable, and fair way.

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New support for teachers powered by Artificial Intelligence

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£2million investment in Oak National Academy to improve and expand Artificial Intelligence tools for teachers.

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Artificial Intelligence - Staying Safe Online for Schools

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Your Content Goes Here Your Content Goes Here What is an AI chatbot? Chatbots are a type of artificial intelligence designed to interact with users in a conversational manner. Unlike Googling a question, an AI Chatbot gives more context to the answer. So, instead of providing a list of

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How to Approach Using AI with Students

If your school is looking to address the AI phenomenon with students, there are a few considerations that are worth discussing. Remember, AI is constantly evolving and as online safety professionals in the field, we are keeping an eye on new developments as they come in. For now though, consider the below: (click on the icons)
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Understand the limitations
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AI is astoundingly impressive, but as we have seen, it isn't perfect. If students are hoping to use these tools to create content, it is important to reiterate how essential their involvement is as a human.

Many of these platforms will openly state that they have limitations. This can involve creating content that may be harmful, inaccurate, biased or offensive. Research and knowledge is still a key component - human connection must never be lost.

Encourage them to act as the authority and to not assume flawless results. Remind them that any content they publish from an AI tool will be seen by others, and as such, they need to take responsibility by ensuring the content is appropriate and safe.

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Apply the basics
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Many behaviours associated with using AI tools are what many of us already teach. We educate around why we shouldn't Google something harmful or inappropriate; the same critical thinking must apply with AI.

Some restrictions may be in place to prevent harmful instructions or media but we need to acknowledge that the technology is young and appropriate, effective safeguards may not be in place yet. As we've said before, talking through online experiences with family members or trusted adults can help students navigate these spaces with more reassurance and support.

If a child then witnesses or experiences an AI tool providing harmful material, it will give them more confidence to talk to a trusted adult. As well, there's no obligation to engage with an AI tool so ensure that students can feel empowered to set appropriate boundaries and to not engage if they feel uncomfortable.

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Keep data secure
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While the potential seems limitless, that doesn't mean we have to compromise our personal information in the process. Students may be talking with online chatbots or experimenting with language models, meaning opportunities may arise where there's a desire to input personal information.

In the same way we educate around keeping our data secure, the same must be applied here. It's always important to consider what reason we have to give people our personal information, and if we wouldn't give out something to a stranger, why would we do it with an AI?

It's also important for users to be aware of data protection settings that are in place within these tools. This allows them to understand how their data and information will be used and shared by the developers. If a student is unable to understand this information, then it would be a positive step for teachers to understand what may be involved so they can inform their own communities in a more approachable manner.

Until we fully understand how any data we submit to a generative AI tool is used, then it is important we follow legal guidance on the use of personal data belonging to others, such as the Data Protection Act and GDPR.

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Stay vigilant
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Due to the realistic nature of AI generated content, it is very common to believe that we are interacting with a human. This has unfortunately opened up more opportunities for scamming through the means of emails or online messages. The basics of cyber security must still apply though and vigilance is key to spotting a potential scam. More information can be found here around how to spot and recover from an attack.

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Designed and Developed by Will Earp, South West Grid for Learning Trust Ltd

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Take a look at our guidance around how schools can safely approach AI with their students.

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What is Replika and is it Safe for Kids?

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YouTube channels that use AI to make videos containing false "scientific" information are being recommended to children as "educational content".

Investigative BBC journalists working in a team that analyses disinformation, information that is deliberately misleading and false, found more than 50 channels in more than 20 languages spreading disinformation disguised as STEM [Science Technology Engineering Maths] content.

These include pseudo-science - that's presenting information as scientific fact that is not based on proper scientific methods, plus outright false information and conspiracy theories. These are theories or beliefs that some groups of people are trying to deliberately mislead the general public, typically for the benefit of a small powerful group.

Examples of conspiracy theories are the existence of electricity-producing pyramids, the denial of human-caused climate change and the existence of aliens.

Our analysis shows YouTube recommends these "bad science" videos to children alongside legitimate educational content.

What's AI?

More clicks, more money

Kyle Hill is a YouTuber and science educator with a huge number of young viewers. He started noticing these "bad science" videos cropping up in his feed a couple of months ago. He says his followers contacted him about recommended content that seemed legitimate, but was instead full of false information.

The creators appear to have stolen and manipulated accurate content and then republished them.

The videos focused on wild claims, with sensationalist commentary, catchy titles and dramatic images to draw viewers in. The more people watch the videos, the more revenue - that's money - the channels get by allowing adverts to be shown on the screen.

YouTube also benefits from high performing content; as it takes about 40% of the money made from advertising on someone's channel.

The creators were also tagging their "bad science" videos as "educational content", meaning they were more likely to be recommended to children.

"Being the science man that I am," Kyle says, "I took that personally. These channels seemed to have identified the exact right thing to maximise views for the least amount of effort."

How to spot fakes

The BBC's Global Disinformation Team found dozens of channels on YouTube producing this type of misleading material, in languages including Arabic, Spanish, and Thai. Many of those channels had more than a million subscribers. Their videos often receive millions of views.

The channel creators publish content rapidly, with many posting multiple videos every day. To be able to do this at such speed, the BBC journalists suspected the content creators were using generative AI programs. These are programs like Chat GPT and MidJourney that can create new content when asked to [eg. 'a black cat wearing a crown'], rather than searching the internet to find examples that already exist.

To test this theory, they took videos from each channel and used AI detection tools and expert analysis to assess the probability or likelihood that the footage, narration and script were made using AI. The BBC analysis showed that most of those videos had used AI to generate text and images, and to scrape - that is to extract information from a website, and manipulate material from real science videos. The result is content that looks factual, but is mostly untrue.

Tips to avoid being misled by disinformation

'I enjoyed watching it'

To test whether the "bad science" videos would be recommended to children, the journalists created children's accounts on the main YouTube site. (All the children they spoke to said they used children's accounts rather than YouTube Kids.) After four days of watching legitimate science education videos, the BBC journalists were recommended the AI-made "bad science" videos too. If they clicked on them, more of the false-science channels were recommended.

As part of their experiment, the journalists then shared some of the recommended false science content to two groups of 10-12-year-olds - one in the UK and one in Thailand - to see whether the children would believe the information they were watching. One video focused on UFO and alien conspiracies, which have been widely shown to be untrue. The other video falsely claimed the Pyramids of Giza were used to create electricity.

The children were convinced: "I enjoyed watching it," said one girl, "At the beginning, I wasn't sure aliens exist, but now I think they do."

Another child was impressed by the electric pyramids: "I didn't know people so long ago would be able to make electricity to use modern technology."

Some children in the group were able to pick out AI use in the videos. "I found it quite funny that they didn't even use a human voice, I thought it wasn't human," one child said.

When the journalists then explained to the children those videos were made using AI and contained false information, they were shocked.

"I'm actually really confused. I thought it was real," said one boy. Another said: "I would've probably believed it, if you hadn't told us it was fake."

Children likely to believe misinformation

Teachers say playing on children's natural curiosity for new, intriguing ideas risks confusing them about what is true.

"These videos do well because they are conspiratorial [suggesting they are exposing a secret most people don't know about]," says Professor Vicki Nash, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute. "We are all fascinated by things that run counter to what we're officially told, and children are more susceptible to this than adults."

Claire Seeley is a primary school teacher in the UK, who agrees.

"Children will often take what they've seen as fact first and foremost. Only maybe when they're a little older, will they start to question it," she said.

Professor Nash also questioned whether hosting platforms, like YouTube, should be earning money from the adverts seen alongside these misleading videos: "The idea that YouTube and Google are making money off the back of adverts being served with pseudo-science news seems really unethical to me."

The BBC contacted a number of companies that produce this type of misleading AI content. One responded, saying their content was intended for "entertainment purposes". They denied targeting children and said they did not use AI "for the majority" of their scripts.

Children's education at risk

YouTube said it recommends YouTube Kids for under 13s, which has a "higher bar" for the quality of videos that can be shown. It said YouTube was committed to removing misinformation from its platforms and providing families with a "safe and high-quality experience".

It also directed journalists to information panels which it says show additional context from third-party sources on conspiracy-related content. The BBC found those information panels were only present for a few of the videos across the 50 channels.

YouTube did not comment on questions about the advertising revenue received from views of those misleading videos.

As AI tools continue to improve, misleading content will become easier to create and the quality of the videos will become more difficult to identify. Claire Seeley said she was worried and urged teachers and parents to prepare for more misleading content.

"We don't have a really clear understanding of how AI-generated content is really impacting children's understanding. As teachers, we're playing catch up to try to get to grips with this."

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AI used to target kids with disinformation

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The BBC finds YouTube videos in more than 20 languages spreading disinformation disguised as science content.

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Designed and Developed by Will Earp, South West Grid for Learning Trust Ltd

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Artificial Intelligence and Online Safety | SWGfL

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Get information, guidance and support around the use of Artificial Intelligence in schools

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An expert has said the 'greatest peril' to humanity caused by AI is already happening. Voice-clone scams generated by AI have been replicating people's voices to scam people

An expert on cybersecurity has said the biggest threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI) is already having an effect, as people are scammed out of their money.

Scammers have been replicating people's voices to scam people they know in a process known as 'AI cloning'.

Wasim Khaled, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Blackbird.AI, said the voice-cloning is "indistinguishable from human speech".

He told the US Sun: "AI voice cloning allows for the creation of more convincing deep fakes, and a deluge of voice samples from public figures like politicians and celebrities yields high-fidelity results...

"This technology is now more accessible than ever - a quick search returns dozens of low-cost or free providers."

Research by cyber protection company McAfee shows that criminals need just three seconds of someone's voice to clone it.

Khaled argued generative AI's "greatest peril" is its ability to confuse people and their understanding of what is real and what is fake.

"Voice cloning, along with other rapidly expanding commercially available generative AI capabilities, is yet another risk factor that muddles the information environment," he added.

Thankfully, the cybersecurity expert said technology should be developed soon that will pre-warn people a voice message could be a scam.

A mum in Scottdale, Arizona retold the horrifying moment scammers used AI to copy her daughter's voice and stage a fake kidnapping in a ransom call.

Jennifer DeStefano delivered emotional testimony in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, explaining a phone call she received in January that was supposedly from her 15-year-old daughter Brianna, whose voice was screaming on the other end.

The cry for help continued before a male voice told the scared mum: "Listen here. I have your daughter.

"You call the police, you call anybody, I'm gonna pop her something so full of drugs.

"I'm gonna have my way with her then drop her off in Mexico, and you're never going to see her again."

Jennifer, who had been told the kidnapping was for a $1million ransom, was outside a dance studio where her younger daughter Aubrey had a rehearsal at the time.

She had picked up the phone despite it being an unknown number because Brianna (also known as Brie) was training for a ski race at the time and was away from home.

Aubrey, 13, was left shaking and crying listening to screams she thought belonged to her sister.

The call wasn't revealed as a scam until after a 911 call had been made and a confused Brianna called her mum to tell her she was ok.

The grim 911 call was recorded by the Scottsdale Police Department and a parent at the dance studio said a "kidnapper" would not "let her talk to her daughter."

Data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates Americans lost $2.6 billion in 2022 to imposter scams and schemes are getting increasingly sophisticated.

FBI spokesperson Siobhan Johnson said families lost around $11,000 on average in similar scams.

In a statement, the FTC said: "A scammer could use AI to clone the voice of your loved one.

"All he needs is a short audio clip of your family member's voice - which he could get from content posted online - and a voice-cloning program. When the scammer calls you... (it will) sound just like your loved one."

It comes as tech and key science experts recently expressed their concerns over AI and the future of humanity in a statement published on the Centre for AI safety.

The signed letter published last month argues that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."

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'Greatest peril' to humanity generated by AI already happening, expert warns

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An expert has said the 'greatest peril' to humanity caused by AI is already happening. Voice-clone scams generated by AI have been replicating people's voices to scam people

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This guide to artificial intelligence will take you through how you can use AI to support children in different ways. But what is AI?

Artificial intelligence is a field of study in computer science. It deals with creating machines that are 'intelligent' and can perform tasks like a human.

AI uses information from various sources to provide its information. So, while a tool like ChatGPT might seem intelligent, it is really simply following instructions and information given to it to respond.

Informally, someone might use the term AI or artificial intelligence to refer to the tools themselves.

Guide to AI tools

The following are some popular tools from our interactive guide to artificial intelligence. Learn more by exploring the full guide below.

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A parent's guide to artificial intelligence (AI) | Internet Matters

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Learn about popular AI tools and how you can use them to help your child and family build skills, develop creativity and have fun at home.

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TeachMateAI - The AI Assistant for Teachers

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A horrific new era of ultrarealistic, AI-generated, child sexual abuse images is now underway, experts warn. Offenders are using downloadable open source generative AI models, which can produce images, to devastating effects. The technology is being used to create hundreds of new images of children who have previously been abused. Offenders are sharing datasets of abuse images that can be used to customize AI models, and they're starting to sell monthly subscriptions to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The details of how the technology is being abused are included in a new, wide-ranging report released by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a nonprofit based in the UK that scours and removes abuse content from the web. In June, the IWF said it had found seven URLs on the open web containing suspected AI-made material. Now its investigation into one dark web CSAM forum, providing a snapshot of how AI is being used, has found almost 3,000 AI-generated images that the IWF considers illegal under UK law.

The AI-generated images include the rape of babies and toddlers, famous preteen children being abused, as well as BDSM content featuring teenagers, according to the IWF research. "We've seen demands, discussions, and actual examples of child sex abuse material featuring celebrities," says Dan Sexton, the chief technology officer at the IWF. Sometimes, Sexton says, celebrities are de-aged to look like children. In other instances, adult celebrities are portrayed as those abusing children.

While reports of AI-generated CSAM are still dwarfed by the number of real abuse images and videos found online, Sexton says he is alarmed at the speed of the development and the potential it creates for new kinds of abusive images. The findings are consistent with other groups investigating the spread of CSAM online. In one shared database, investigators around the world have flagged 13,500 AI-generated images of child sexual abuse and exploitation, Lloyd Richardson, the director of information technology at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, tells WIRED. "That's just the tip of the iceberg," Richardson says.

The current crop of AI image generators-capable of producing compelling art, realistic photographs, and outlandish designs-provide a new kind of creativity and a promise to change art forever. They've also been used to create convincing fakes, like Balenciaga Pope and an early version of Donald Trump's arrest. The systems are trained on huge volumes of existing images, often scraped from the web without permission, and allow images to be created from simple text prompts. Asking for an "elephant wearing a hat" will result in just that.

It's not a surprise that offenders creating CSAM have adopted image-generation tools. "The way that these images are being generated is, typically, they are using openly available software," Sexton says. Offenders whom the IWF has seen frequently reference Stable Diffusion, an AI model made available by UK-based firm Stability AI. The company did not respond to WIRED's request for comment. In the second version of its software, released at the end of last year, the company changed its model to make it harder for people to create CSAM and other nude images.

Sexton says criminals are using older versions of AI models and fine-tuning them to create illegal material of children. This involves feeding a model existing abuse images or photos of people's faces, allowing the AI to create images of specific individuals. "We're seeing fine-tuned models which create new imagery of existing victims," Sexton says. Perpetrators are "exchanging hundreds of new images of existing victims" and making requests about individuals, he says. Some threads on dark web forums share sets of faces of victims, the research says, and one thread was called: "Photo Resources for AI and Deepfaking Specific Girls."

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The AI-Generated Child Abuse Nightmare Is Here

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Thousands of child abuse images are being created with AI. New images of old victims are appearing, as criminals trade datasets.

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This is not Morgan Freeman  -  A Deepfake Singularity

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Chat assistants in just about everything you could buy online.

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Chat assistants in just about everything you could buy online.

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I Can't draw feature

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Digital advertising??