The Ethical Framework for AI in Education

The Institute for Ethical Al in Education was conceived by Sir Anthony Seldon, Priya Lakhani OBE, and Professor Rose Luckin in the summer of 2018, and launched in October of that year, with the aim of developing an ethical framework that would enable all learners to benefit optimally from AI in education, whilst also being protected against the known risks this technology presents.

The Founders and the Chair of the Institute, Lord Tim Clement-Jones suggested a 2.5 year timetable, after which the Institute is to be wound up. The Institute’s work has been funded by McGraw Hill, Microsoft Corporation, Nord Anglia Education, Pearson PLC; and by a discretionary grant from John Fairbairn at Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Its day-to-day operations have been managed by Executive Lead, Tom Moule.

In February 2020, the Institute published its Interim Report: Towards a Shared Vision of Ethical Al in Education, which provided an overview of the applications of Al in education, outlined the risks and benefits posed by Al’s use, and put forward a blueprint for an ethical framework, along with six overarching questions. These questions, which were designed to guide further research, related to stakeholders’ perspectives on the risks and benefits of Al in education, how tensions between risks and benefits might be resolved, and how ethical principles could be put into practice.