Using virtual-reality (VR) headsets, students at a Hong Kong university travel to a pavilion above the clouds to watch an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated Albert Einstein explain game theory.
The students are part of a course at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) that is testing the use of “AI lecturers” as the AI revolution hits campuses around the world.
The mass availability of tools such as ChatGPT has sparked optimism about new leaps in productivity and teaching, but also fears over cheating, plagiarism and the replacement of human instructors.
Photo: AFP
Pan Hui (許彬), a professor of computer science who is leading the university’s AI project, is not worried about being replaced by the tech and believes it can actually help ease what he described as a global shortage of teachers.
“AI teachers can bring in diversity, bring in an interesting aspect, and even immersive storytelling,” Hui said.
In his “Social Media for Creatives” course, AI-generated instructors teach 30 postgraduate students about immersive technologies and the impact of digital platforms.
These instructors are generated after presentation slides are fed into a program. The looks, voices and gestures of the avatars can be customized, and they can be displayed on a screen or VR headsets.
This is mixed with in-person teaching by Hui, who said the system frees human lecturers from the “more tedious” parts of their job.
For student Lerry Yang, whose doctoral research focuses on the metaverse, the advantage of AI lecturers was in the ability to tailor them to individual preferences and boost learning.
If the AI teacher “makes me feel more mentally receptive, or if it feels approachable and friendly, that erases the feeling of distance between me and the professor,” she said.
Educators around the world are grappling with the growing use of generative AI, from trying to reliably detect plagiarism to setting the boundaries for the use of such tools.
While initially hesitant, most Hong Kong universities last year allowed students to use AI to degrees that vary from course to course.
At HKUST, Hui is testing avatars with different genders and ethnic backgrounds, including the likenesses of renowned academic figures such as Albert Einstein and the economist John Nash.
“So far, the most popular type of lecturers are young, beautiful ladies,” Hui said.
An experiment with Japanese anime characters split opinion, said Christie Pang, a doctoral student working with Hui on the project.
“Those who liked it really loved it, but some students felt they couldn’t trust what [the lecturer] said,” she said.
There could be a future where AI teachers surpass humans in terms of trustworthiness, Hui said, though he said he preferred a mix of the two.
“We, as university teachers, will better take care of our students in, for example, their emotional intelligence, creativity and critical thinking,” he said.
For now, despite the wow factor for students, the technology is far from the level where it could pose a serious threat to human teachers.
It cannot interact with students or answer questions and like all AI-powered content generators, it can offer false, even bizarre answers — sometimes called “hallucinations.”
In a survey of more than 400 students last year, University of Hong Kong professor Cecilia Chan (陳嘉玉) found that respondents preferred humans over digital avatars.
Students “still prefer to talk to a real person, because a real teacher would provide their own experience, feedback and empathy,” said Chan, who researches the intersection of AI and education.
“Would you prefer to hear from a computer ‘Well done’?” she asked.
That said, students are already using AI tools to help them learn, Chan added.
“Everybody’s doing it,” she said.
At HKUST, Yang agreed: “You just can’t go against the advancement of this technology.”
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
RSS