More than 4.3 million test-takers are registered to take the 2024 National High School Exam (Enem), with exams scheduled for the first two Sundays in November—November 3 and 10. In preparation, many students have turned to artificial intelligence (AI), a tool that has become a valuable aid in their studies.

In its issue for the last week of October, Veja magazine published an article on the subject featuring Seiji Isotani, a researcher at Harvard University and president of the International Society for Artificial Intelligence in Education, who is also a member of the Bett Brasil Advisory Board. The article also featured André Neves, a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco, who participated in this year’s Bett Nordeste conference.

It has been proven that technology—provided it is viewed not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve excellence—can give a significant boost to the creation of more open-minded schools, where students are active participants in their extended journey toward knowledge. The state of Piauí has implemented artificial intelligence (AI) instruction in K-12 education, where young people are taught to formulate good questions for chatbots—a basic requirement for receiving consistent and accurate answers. “When used well, AI can give us superpowers,” jokes Brazilian Seiji Isotani. “Honing the skill of asking questions is one of those cognitive exercises that will serve you well for a lifetime.”

One of the greatest visionaries in this field was MIT mathematician Seymour Papert, who, in the 1970s, devised a creative system in which students charted their own academic paths at their own pace and according to their own interests, always encouraged to go further.

The goal was for them, too, to create their own intellectual challenges. But for Papert, the real revolution would come when machines began to learn on their own—just as we are beginning to see today.

Educators everywhere have a justified fear that students will delegate responsibilities, failing to hone their critical thinking skills and placing too much trust in robots, which are highly fallible. These are valid concerns that should inform the use of any technology, but they do not tell the whole story. “We are facing a unique opportunity to rethink education in today’s world,” says Isotani, an advisor to Bett Brasil.

• Read the full article here.

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