Updated The UK government is set to equip teachers with AI tools to help them "mark and plan lessons."

The [1]project , which has £4 million of government investment behind it, will feed government documents – including curriculum guidance, lesson plans, and anonymized pupil assessments – into AI models, which will then spit out "accurate, high quality content."

This is not a phrase generally associated with AI assistants. For example, we asked Microsoft's Copilot: "How many times does the letter r appear in raspberry?" It replied: "The letter 'r' appears twice in the word 'raspberry.'"

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Along with a picture of a strawberry.

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What could possibly go wrong?

To be fair to Microsoft, OpenAI's ChatGPT also thought there were two instances of "r" in "raspberry." Google's Gemini said: "The letter 'r' appears four times in the word 'raspberry.'"

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We certainly hope they fix that before teachers start using AI assistants to mark homework.

According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the government aims to ease administrative burdens on teachers. UK Science Secretary Peter Kyle said: "This is the first of many projects that will transform how we see and use public sector data. We will put the information we hold to work, using it in a safe and responsible way to reduce waiting lists, cut backlogs, and improve outcomes for citizens across the country."

The £4 million in funding will be divided into £3 million for the content store itself – which will consist of teaching standards, guidelines, and lesson plans – and £1 million for AI companies that come up with "the best ideas to put the data into practice to reduce teacher workload."

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Moves to deal with teacher workload have been broadly welcomed, although the use of AI was greeted with caution.

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The UK's National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) [11]said that while it welcomed proposals on how pressure on school staff could be relieved, "we are also painfully aware that AI is not a substitute for a teacher – who will have the experience and understanding to get the best learning outcomes for children.

"We would like to engage and collaborate with the government at the earliest opportunity to scope the potential for the use of AI, identify concerns and limitations, and ensure that any implementation of AI in education is thoughtful, responsible, and ultimately enhances the learning experience for all."

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said: "It is clear that to solve the teacher retention crisis, reducing workload must be a priority – but there must also be a serious and holistic approach both to issues of technology and workload reduction.

"This means properly engaging with the profession to fully understand the implications of AI for education – both the opportunities but also the limitations, risks, and ethical concerns that AI presents.

"Investment should be directed towards enhancing and embedding the voice of teachers and schools, so that AI tools and products genuinely reflect school and college priorities and are tested and evaluated by them."

The Register asked the government how anonymity will be protected in the training set and how the scenario where an AI might end up marking homework generated by an AI from a lesson plan produced by an AI might be avoided, but we have yet to receive a response. ®

Updated to add

We heard back from one of the UK government departments, which told us that the project was still at a very early stage. On the subject of anonymity, The Register understands that pupil data will be anonymized before being fed into any models and, furthermore, the process will be opt-in for students and their parents or guardians.

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[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/teachers-to-get-more-trustworthy-ai-tech-as-generative-tools-learn-from-new-bank-of-lesson-plans-and-curriculums-helping-them-mark-homework-and-save

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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/google_doom_ai/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/grok_election_misinformation/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/27/opinion_ai_ml/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/26/microsoft_bing_copilot_ai_halluciation/

[11] https://www.naht.org.uk/News/Latest-comments/Press-room/ArtMID/558/ArticleID/2509/NAHT-says-AI-can-help-to-reduce-teacher-workload

[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/