The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked concerns about negative impacts, one of which is job redundancy.
But in the education sector, AI can be a helpful tool to revolutionise teaching methods, as indicated by Professor Densil Williams, the outgoing principal of the UWI Five Islands campus.
He said AI is not a threat, nor a substitute for teachers.
“The truth is that artificial intelligence is a complement to what we do. It is not a substitute, it’s not a threat,” Williams told state media recently.
The professor said AI changes the role of the teacher instead.
“What it is going to do, it’s going to change the way we teach. It’s going to change the way the classroom looks. It’s going to change the role of the teacher,” he asserted.
Professor Williams explained that this occurs as the teacher will not only require students to write the essay, but analyse the work written. This is due to AI’s ability to create an essay on any topic.
“The teacher now has to tell you to go and analyse the implications of what the essay is saying, because the teacher will now know that you can just type in your topic in Chat GPT and it’s going to provide you with a 20-page essay,” he explained.
“So, the teacher no longer needs you to recall. The teacher now needs you to be a critical thinker and, as a result of that, teaches him or herself they would have to change their modus operandi,” Williams added.
As it relates to job redundancy due to AI, Williams indicated that work will have to be done to equip individuals with the necessary tools to make it more difficult to be replaced by technology.
“What it means is that we’re going to have to get people to go do the higher order of thinking, higher order of skills, higher order level,” he said.
Additionally, he highlighted that the technology was created by humans with the goal of making life easier.
“At the end of the day, it’s the humans who created that artificial intelligence. It won’t create itself, it’s a human that creates it. It is there to support the human and make life easier for the human rather than to take away or to displace humans.”
According to the University of the West Indies website, Professor Williams commenced his duty as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of its Five Islands campus in the 2020/2021 academic year following his appointment in May 2020.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management Studies, and a Master’s degree and PhD in International Business.
On August 1, he is set to assume the role of principal at the UWI Mona campus in Jamaica.