Transforming Education Through Generative Artificial Intelligence: Current Advances and Barriers

Lossan Bonde

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more specifically Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is among the most trending disruptive technologies offering unprecedented possibilities of innovation in education by customizing learning paths, fostering creativity, and bridging knowledge gaps. GenAI is a subfield of AI which can create new content that can be text, image, audio, or video comparable to human-generated content. It uses complex Machine Learning (ML) models and Neural Networks (NN) trained on large datasets. The release of the ChatGPT in November 2022 has raised the bar on what GenAI can do; and since then, researchers as well as practitioners have explored the potential of that technology. As result, GenAI has found its applications in various sectors including business and marketing, media and entertainment, arts and design, research and innovation, and education. While it is obvious that GenAI has a high potential transformative power on education, its actual application in classical educational settings such as schools and universities remain limited. The aim of this paper is double: (1) to explore the advances in GenAI and provide guidelines on how to leverage on the technology in the context of university teaching and learning. (2) to identify the main barriers to the adoption of GenAI in education and how to address them. The main contribution of the paper is the provision of sample use cases and their implementation using GenAI to produce course content, exercises, and supplementary materials tailored to the curriculum and the individual learning pace and style of each student. This will result in enhancing comprehension and retention, making education more accessible and effective. Secondarily, the addresses the ethical issues and other barriers to the adoption of GenAI in education.

Key words: Generative Artificial Intelligence, Innovative Education, Accessible and Effective Education, Personalized Learning, Ethical Generative AI.