Who moved my intelligence?

The discussion around the future automation of work is as much about human intelligence as it is about artificial intelligence (AI), according to the professor of Learner Centred Design at University College London, one of the UK’s leading universities.

AI can help us to solve some of the biggest problems we face in the world, says Rose Luckin. The question is, which problems should be solved by artificial intelligence and which by human intelligence?

“It’s about blending human and artificial intelligence. What we need is for humans to understand what AI can and cannot do so that we can work together effectively,” she says.

This puts the people who educate and train right at the centre of the AI discussion. They are going to have to help employees and students gain this understanding, realise the limitations of the technologies and themselves, understand how they can learn from the data provided by AI, and make effective decisions.

“Now we have smart machines that can learn, is it right to continue training humans in certain areas? What is the right response? Which areas are best automated and which should stay with humans?” she asks.

What is clear, she adds, is that people are going to have to learn and develop throughout their life – and they are going to need to know when they have to develop. To do this, people will need to develop self-awareness and thinking skills. The focus will be on meta-level understanding, looking at the context and evidence base for decisions.

“One of the most important things in the future will be self-efficacy. We will need complex understanding of ourselves,” Luckin says.

Educators can lay the groundwork for developing important skills such as curiosity and creativity.

However, she warns that we need to be careful that AI doesn’t deskill us. “We need to be able to make good decisions. We mustn’t get to the place where we are outsourcing our decision-making to Alexa.”