The public unveiling of ChatGPT brought to light a phenomenon that had already been present, at least since the end of the confinements linked to the COVID-19 pandemic: the frantic lobbying in favor of an acceleration of the cybernetization of society. (SAAQ, Chinook immigration system, soon the health system) and, in particular, school. Today, new voices are rising to demand a moratorium on the development of artificial intelligence (AI). But much more will have to be done.
Tech-savvy lobbying
Alternately, rave promoters promising a bright future through such a transformation follow one another in our media. Andreas Schleicher, director of the education section of the OECD (a body currently working to abolish physical school and national education systems), says that “education has become a very conservative force. We can clearly see this with the resistance to technology”, and that AI everywhere in the school is in fact “preparing young people for their own future, not for our past” (The dutyMarch 29, 2023).
Almost at the same time, Yannick Dupont, director of the innovation and educational research laboratory at Collège Sainte-Anne, assured us on the airwaves of QUB (March 27, 2023) that once we realize the benefits of AI and the computerization of schools, we would all agree to rush forward.
Blind spots
These apologists for Progress, always apologists for technology—whom one would like to believe are naive, but who are perhaps rather blind or self-interested—leave quite a few things in the dark, however.
First, the fact that in the education system neither teachers nor students want their machines. Recently, a survey showed that 94% of college students did not want to know anything about the various methods of online teaching. Secondly, none of these enthusiasts of techno-pedagogy, fascinated as they are by a good conjuring trick, mentions the studies, however numerous and abundantly documented, which show the harmful effects of the computerization of teaching: delays in the development emotional or neurological, decreased capacity for empathy and interest in others, increased anxiety and feelings of loneliness, etc. This, without even mentioning the delays in fundamental learning, in particular in reading, writing and mathematics, also documented.
Finally, these good people do not take the time to consider the risks of a transformation that they nevertheless do not hesitate to describe as a turning point for humanity as major as the invention of the printing press. They do not doubt for a second that we are on the right track, that their beautiful promises of a bright future will come true; in short, they have faith.
But precisely: in view of the stakes – because it is indeed our children that we are talking about, make no mistake about it! —, wouldn’t they have to demonstrate that these promises will actually come true, that such a transformation would indeed be beneficial for everyone? Demonstrate it and not settle for a begging the question? Don’t they, and not those who raise doubts, bear the burden of proof?
In our book Welcome to the machinewe are asking for a moratorium on the computerization of schools, in particular so that such an orientation, which is already well under way, can be the subject of a real democratic discussion rather than being determined by the GAFAM alone.
However, on March 29, a group of big names in the technology community in turn signed an open letter asking for a six-month moratorium on any development of AI. We are certainly delighted to see the beginning of awareness of the dangers linked to the random development of AI. However, we are not fooled by the self-interested motives that may be hidden behind the intentions of the signatories of this letter, who nevertheless continue to promise a “flourishing” future for humanity thanks to the development of AI, which we strongly doubt. .
What to do ?
The acceleration of change, especially technological change, is not inevitable. Blind adaptation is obviously not the solution. Rather, we must regain political and democratic control over the systems that we are currently allowing to deploy without any caution. What to propose, then, in particular with regard to the school? We offer two tracks.
First, we must reinforce the presence of content and activities focused on the development of human qualities: sensitivity, empathy, understanding of the world, creativity, critical capacity. Far from being outdated or “dusty”, content aimed at understanding society, ideas, the world as it was and the processes that made it as it is are all the more essential and important. .
The same is true for artistic and cultural disciplines, which allow the development of sensitivity and the perception that other worlds are possible. To put it simply, one can only project oneself into the future on the basis of a correct apprehension of the past from which it inevitably stems. Moreover, there is no innovation except on the basis of the creations of the past.
Second, young people must be given the knowledge to regain political and democratic control over cybernetics and the systems that dominate society today. Currently, decisions are made by an elite and by large corporations such as GAFAM, in opacity and in a way that is anything but democratic. This includes strong and enlightened citizenship training as well as learning a form of computer literacy, here in opposition to the blind use of computer objects, since it is difficult to mark out the place of machines whose operation remains opaque to users who do not understand what they are and do not know how they are programmed.
The central objective should be, quite contrary to the current uncontrolled, irrational and capitalist development and the “adaptive” submission to it, to allow a considered mastery of technology within a rational and ecological society. democratic. In short, that humans never come to be overtaken by their machines.