Ethics Concerns in Artificial Intelligence Use in Education

The goal of the research is to provide an overview of key ethical concerns in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in educational settings. Intelligent systems (Artificial Intelligence) are poised to drive dramatic changes in human societies beyond the transformations already occurring through the Internet, mobile devices, the Internet of Things, ubiquitous computing, and automation. The author surveyed the existing peer-reviewed literature on the topic in the fields of moral philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, Roboethics, Machine Ethics, and AI. Institutional reports including white papers were additionally reviewed. The author also drew insights from research on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST) conducted in the fields of e-learning and Big Data Analytics. An approach to understanding the ethical dimensions to AI in education must take into account: 1) the ethical use of systems in schools (rules and legal frameworks); 2) well-known privacy, security and trust issues with cloud-based data collection and use; 3) power asymmetries and misuse (malicious actors); 4) equity and social justice, such as access to information resources, worker displacement, knowledge ownership; 5) machine liability and accountability; and 6) educational programs to inform students about the ethical dimensions of technology. AI usage in the realm of education generates a number of critical moral concerns in which students, educators, and the public at large could potentially suffer irreparable harms. As one example, AI could potentially amplify current social inequities or racial stereotyping. It is therefore incumbent upon educators, legal scholars, and philosophers to generate workable ethical and legal frameworks to harness the power of AI to advance human societies, and specifically educational institutions, while mitigating serious risks.