Hong Kong secondary school students to start studying AI

ARTIFICIAL intelligence has infiltrated many areas of our lives, including education. Parents and teachers wonder what they should teach kids to thrive in a world where this technology is advancing at breakneck speed.

All of which is prompting the Hong Kong authorities to take action.

The Education Bureau, which oversees the content of school curricula in Hong Kong, recently announced that students on the island city will be learning to master the workings of AI from the start of the next school year.

From September, Hong Kong's junior secondary students will have classes that teach them how to use generative artificial intelligence software, such as ChatGPT, or to learn about computer vision, a field of computer science that seeks to perform and automate tasks that replicate human capabilities.

This new educational program is aimed at young teenagers aged 12 to 15 studying in Hong Kong's 450 public secondary schools, reports the South Morning China Post.

It will be spread over 10 to 14 class hours, and will complement the curriculum of the information and communication technology subject field. 

Through these new classes, the Education Bureau is not seeking to turn all Hong Kong junior secondary school students into future AI specialists or tech workers.

But it does believe that artificial intelligence is bound to turn their lives upside down, and that they need to understand how to use it to not be overwhelmed by this new technological advance. 

Raising awareness about the dangers of AI

With this in mind, students will work in groups to identify and try to solve concrete problems using artificial intelligence. They will also learn about the challenges and ethical issues involved in using this technology in our lives.

"It is important for students to know powerful tools like AI could be both good and bad for society.

"I hope students can have a good understanding of how to use AI well," explains Yam Yeung, a research professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, speaking to the South Morning China Post. 

While this artificial intelligence education is something of a novelty, children in Hong Kong have been introduced to computer coding in elementary school since 2017.

The South Morning China Post also points out that 70% of the city's public secondary schools introduced AI modules into their curricula prior to the Education Bureau's announcement. – ETX Daily Up, July 2, 2023