'Miss Robot, can you help?'

SCHOOLS: ROLL-OUT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPS SUPPOSEDLY HELP PUPILS

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Apps infused with AI are being marketed to schools across the world and governments are rushing to embrace the technology, despite experts raising serious doubts.

The sector known as Ed Tech exploded during the Covid pandemic as schools closed to stop the spread of infection and millions of children were forced to learn in front of screens at home.

As demand dried up after schools reopened, Ed Tech startups tried to win back investment by adding AI to their products and marketing.

Tech titans like Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI have also spied an opportunity, promoting their AI products to schools or partnering with start-ups.

While many education departments have announced plans to deploy AI apps, there are plenty of dissenting voices.

The United Nations' education body Unesco last year eviscerated the record of online learning during Covid, saying the rapid rollout of tech solutions was a "tragedy" that had increased inequality and worsened learning outcomes.

Unesco's Manos Antoninis said AI might have some use in education but right now it "seems to be creating more problems than it is solving".

He cited concerns that companies deployed biased algorithms and overall were less concerned with educational outcomes than with their bottom line.

"I think the unfortunate thing is that education has been used as a bit of a Trojan horse to access future consumers," he said.