INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

More technological, more human

FIIA 2023, International Forum on Artificial Intelligence, is proposed as a space for international dialogue to discuss the present and future of artificial intelligence. On the first day organized by the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional and Ticmas; Melania Ottaviano, HumanAI advisor, and Susel Jacquet, from the Ticmas team; talked with Patricio Zunini about how technology can become a useful tool to develop social-emotional learning.

More and more voices in the intellectual sphere are calling not only to take into account the growing insensitivity that can accompany the rise of technology, but also to continue to proactively develop our human condition.

(DE)HUMANIZATION?

If, instead of apocalyptic dehumanization, technology were a tool for developing socioemotional skills? This question was the key to the dialogue between Melania Ottaviano and Susel Jacquet at FIIA2023, on August 30 in the auditorium of the Regional Faculty of Córdoba of the National Technological University.

Our advisor in Argentina, Melania Ottaviano, director of the Diploma in Educational Innovation at Universidad Siglo 21 and part of the academic team of the Specialization in Virtual Learning Environments at Universidad Católica Argentina, stated that “it is extremely important to accompany all the development of Artificial Intelligence with human development”.

In the educational ecosystem, Melania continued, “it is increasingly important to begin to organically include emotional intelligence or everything that has to do with human skills in the teaching curriculum. These skills, Artificial Intelligence obviously cannot execute them, it cannot replace us (…) so it is key to include these types of skills, especially for the challenges of today’s world, for our students and also for teachers.” In a world full of technology, algorithms and big data, it is urgent to develop our more human side, since “we obviously run the risk that if we do not do it, we will not accompany this evolution”.

MORE SELF-KNOWLEDGE

“What recommendations would you give for working on the socioemotional dimension in an institution in an organization, not just in a school?”.

Regarding the development of the socioemotional part, Melania advocates for a boost in self-knowledge: “We know very little about our students, although we know if our students are good in Mathematics, Logic, Language… we know little about their level of leadership, empathy, frustration tolerance… and that is one of the challenges we also have today as teachers; to begin to know them to generate plans that can strengthen these skills”.

Self-knowledge is a fundamental part in order to develop this socioemotional dimension, and not only for students, but also for teachers and managers, since “there are few spaces in the institutions for self-knowledge, and it is essential to know what training they have and what challenges of these human skills are also necessary to develop in them”.

To this end, she stated: “I believe that the commitment of the management team is key, and to know that these are projects that are designed and must be sustained in the long term. We are very used to wanting to get results quickly and when we work with human skills, although they are malleable, they obviously require time, which is why I say that measurement is also key”.

MORE HUMANE

From this need arises the innovative proposal of Human AI: “We combine Artificial Intelligence and human development.Precisely through this application – which was developed with artificial intelligence – we can obtain a report, an analysis of our students, of more than 30 socioemotional skills; and from there we can make a project, a planning; knowing what are the opportunities for improvement and in which ones to continue growing and strengthening”.

Melania, commenting on the relationship between technology and the socioemotional part, affirmed that it is necessary to “find a balance between the use of this technology and seek a connection more and more to our essence as humans. There are always ethical limits, and in Human AI’s work there is strict data control to preserve the identity and sensitive information of each individual user. The preservation of identity is part of the ethical dimension of the company, because it is precisely sensitive information that you are having about a person, and it is very relevant”.

But she urged that this ethical debate “must be taken to the inside of each institution”. Although debates are taking place at the international and national level, I believe that we must open spaces for discussion in each institution. This is moving very fast, if we wait for the regulations to come from somewhere else, we will never be up to the task. There is a lot to discuss, some people are afraid of it, but I think we have to see it as an opportunity”.