Schools should teach children about using AI, IT professionals say

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has called for pupils to be taught to use tools such as generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, and the strengths and limitations of such programs, to help them succeed in life and help the UK compete in the global AI marketplace.

The professional body said a new alternative digital literacy qualification was needed at secondary schools that had an emphasis on AI and other modern digital skills.

"Young people need modern digital skills, like understanding how AI chatbots can help them in their life and career," Julia Adamson, director of education at BCS, said, pointing to gaps in school curriculum promoting digital literacy in the UK. 

"What we have now is great if you want to become a computer scientist – degrees in computing are more popular than ever. But children who aren’t going to specialise in coding early on also have a right to those essential digital skills, including understanding AI, so they can hold their own in the global workplace," she said.

"Everything from marketing to law is going to require pretty strong knowledge of generative AI in the future so it has to start in the classroom at a young age."

In response to fears over AI potentially impacting jobs, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously spoken of AI tools becoming “co-pilots” in the workplace in the future, being used by workers to help with repetitive tasks and administrative work.

BCS said understanding AI should also become a key part of teacher training and headteachers’ professional leadership qualifications.