A technology is conceived with the idea of fulfilling a function. The more useful the function, the faster it spreads. The more powerful it is, the more power it gives to those who master it. For example, those with access to artificial intelligence have greater organizational power and can make better choices. As more than half of the earth's population has access to the Internet, they too, in principle, have access to A.I. The potential of artificial intelligence is there, and its power will only increase.
The idea of acquiring more power is certainly appealing. If the armorer who could forge a sword was important to the king and his army, what can we say today about those who know how to build A.I.? They're courted by every government! When you could talk to the blacksmith, you knew what he was doing, but when you don't even know how an A.I. arrives at its conclusions, you've got some reason to worry. The question of A.I. control appears in all its scope.
What are the conditions under which technologies remain at the service of humanity, and what are the conditions that allow them to slide into an out-of-control hubris? The hubris is not that of A.I., but rather of those who possess the technology. It's up to us not to let them carry us away in their delirium.
For the time being, the use of technology in schools is very different from that in students' everyday lives; it is intended for pedagogical purposes and is more diversified. Methodologies, tools and know-how are shared with the ambition of putting technologies at our service, and go far beyond earning more money, votes or clicks. Culture, research, organization, science, social sciences - practically every field can benefit from them, if we learn how to use them.
Which technologies do we share? Which technologies give us the most control? How does the school influence technological choices? The subject is vast... Legitimacy, trust, joy, creativity cannot be decreed or programmed, but it is possible to create the conditions in which they can appear and subject A.I. and technologies in general to them.
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Denys Lamontagne - [email protected]
Illustration: Shutterstock - 1228555429
