The South Korean government spent 1.2 trillion won ($850m) on developing AI textbooks for schools, but the national programme has been rolled back after just four months, amid allegations of inaccurate texts, concerns about privacy, and increased workloads on staff and pupils.
Writing in Rest Of World, journalist Junhyup Kwon quotes a student as saying, “All our classes were delayed because of technical problems with the textbooks. […] I found it hard to stay focused and keep on track. The textbooks didn’t provide lessons tailored to my level.”
Kim Jong-hee, chief digital officer of Dong-A Publishing, one of the textbook developers, spoke of the advantages of AI books: “Using digital devices [students] are familiar with keeps them more focused, awake, and more willing to participate. The textbooks provide more personalised support for students struggling with lessons.”
The Korean government originally commissioned publishers to produce the AI textbooks, who in turn spent around $567m to develop the online, digital texts. The use of AI textbooks was made mandatory in the country from the beginning of the school year in March, but has since been classed as ‘optional’ after just one semester. The number of schools using the AI textbooks has halved in that time.
Speaking in the National Assembly in January this year, legislator Kang Kyung-sook asked the Minister for Education, “Traditional print textbooks take 18 months to develop, nine months for review, and six months for preparation. But the AI textbooks took only 12 [months to develop], three [months for review], and three months [for preparation] […]. Why was it rushed? Since they target children, they require careful verification and careful procedures.”
The failure of the AI textbook scheme has also been blamed on the politicisation of the issue, and a change of government as the programme was being rolled out.
Technology programmes in schools since the widespread adoption of the internet are relatively common, have cost taxpayers considerably less, and lasted much longer – despite eventual failure or wholesale realignment. In South Africa’s Guateng Province in the early 2000s, the Online Schools Project was designed to equip schools with computer labs and internet connections, but was scrapped in 2013 at a cost of R1-billion rand ($57m), according to some reports.
In 2019, Malaysia’s 1BestariNet – a cloud-based VLE (virtual learning environment) – was terminated after eight years amid investigations into alleged inconsistencies between internet speed claims and the reality experienced by many schools. The overall cost of that project was put in the billions of ringgit (one billion ringgit is around $235m).
However, the speed of the failure of the South Korean AI textbooks project and its high cost, suggest the educational adoption of AI texts delivered digitally is pitted with difficulty. An academic study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published earlier this year hinted that using AI in educational contexts lowers brain activity in the long-term, which suggests the technology may not be suitable for developing minds.
(Image source: “Adorable sleeping students in the undergraduate library” by benchilada is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)
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