Artificial intelligence, coming to a classroom near you

To find out whether kids are improving their real-world intelligence, classrooms could get artificial.  

Smile – you’re on screen 

Figuring out what the kids are really thinking can be a challenge even when teaching is happening in person. Make things digital, and it can be even tougher. Until now… 

Intel has partnered with Classroom Technologies to build an AI that reads the emotions of students in an online class, giving teachers and schools a better idea of whether or not certain pupils are understanding some topics better than others.  

The tech works by picking up on subtle gestures: a yawn, a smile or even the slightest hint of a frown can flag a student as not understanding something. Impressive tech, yes. But is it ethical? 

Not just a pretty face, then? 

If you ask any AI entrepreneur in the US, they’ll tell you it’s ready to change the world forever. That might be true, but as AI is being deployed in more and more social settings, more and more problems are being found. There’s no shortage of algorithm-based horror stories to choose from; racial profiling, dismissals driven by inaccurate data, and AI’s learning very much the wrong things.  

So, while the high school hunks among you might be rubbing your hands together at the idea of high grades for pretty faces, the rest of us might not be quite so thrilled.