Children should be allowed to use AI to do their homework, according to the Science Secretary.
Peter Kyle said it was fine for school pupils to make use of tools such as ChatGPT, which can generate entire essays as well as answering maths and science questions, if supervised.
He claimed the technology could particularly help young people who struggle with traditional classroom lessons.
And he dismissed concerns it will prevent children learning properly, pointing out that similar fears were once raised about the pocket calculator.
Asked by the BBC yesterday [sun] if it was OK for children to use ChatGPT to do their homework, Mr Kyle replied: ‘Actually with supervision and used in the right way, then yes, because ChatGPT and the AI technology that is using language is already being used across the economy.’
Told it could mean pupils simply handing in work generated automatically by the popular AI program, he said: ‘I am of an age where I remember this conversation about calculators.
Children should be allowed to use AI to do their homework, according to the Science Secretary (stock image)
Peter Kyle said it was fine for school pupils to make use of tools such as ChatGPT
Mr Kyle claimed the technology could particularly help young people who struggle with traditional classroom lessons (stock image)
‘We need to make sure that kids and young people are learning how to use this technology and integrate it into their learning development.’
He went on: ‘There are kids with real talents in outlier talents and using ChatGPT and other AI assistance could really turbo charge and give them a challenge they’re not getting in other places.
‘In the same classroom, you could have kids with neurological barriers to learning that could have their innate barriers overcome and assisted with in the same classroom.
‘We need to help people use this, but it should never be a replacement for the expertise of teaching.’
