The year begins with yet another controversy! The ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) tool has sparked a mix of excitement and concern, mainly due to its impact on education. The tool is similar to a search engine, but instead of displaying links related to a topic, it can generate text and solve problems that “respond” to the user’s request, capable of producing articles, poems, code, and lectures on any subject. It’s so impressive that, within its first month of launch, it had already reached over one million users.

Educators are concerned that students might use the tool to complete their school assignments and, as a result, fail to develop the skills necessary to build knowledge. The New York City Department of Education, for example, blocked access to the tool, citing “concerns about negative impacts on learning.”

The truth is that this tool is the first concrete demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence in creating content and forms of creative expression that were once considered activities exclusive to humans. Until then, discussions about the impacts of artificial intelligence on education were based on abstract premises that referred to a hypothetical, science-fiction-like future.

With the rise in popularity of tools like ChatGPT, that future is here! We can no longer put off addressing the question of what and how to teach children and young peoplewhohave access to tools that make memorizing facts and reproducing texts obsolete and unnecessary.

The focus of the discussion should not be on how to block access to these technologies, but rather on what skills the contemporary world requires of its citizens so that they can make ethical and effective decisions about their use, both individually and collectively. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills have always been part of the school curriculum, but they take on new meaning in light of technologies capable of solving problems and creating narratives.

According to Fei-Fei Li, coordinator of Human-Centered AI at Stanford University, “There’s nothing artificial about AI: it’s inspired by people, created by people, and—most importantly—it impacts people. It’s a powerful tool that we’re only beginning to understand, and that’s a huge responsibility,” she says.

There are no ready-made answers on how teachers should help their students develop the skills needed to understand, use, and create technologies, as recommended by the BNCC. But one thing is certain: the only way to learn is through use, experimentation, and reflection. 

In the Brazilian context, concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, take on an even deeper and ethically more urgent significance: it is essential to ensure that teachers and students in public schools have access to this technology. Otherwise, we will deny a significant portion of the population the opportunity to understand and influence a world permeated by artificial intelligence tools.

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*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bett Brasil.