Serendipity35

 

In what I consider to be more of a "business" story, Canada's voluntary AI code of conduct is coming. As an article headline says "not everyone is enthused." Some businesses are concerned rules could stifle innovation and dull competitive edge.

Companies that sign onto the code are agreeing to multiple principles, including that their AI systems are transparent about where and how information they collect is used, and that there are methods to address potential bias in a system. In addition, they agree to human monitoring of AI systems and that developers who create generative AI systems for public use create systems so that anything generated by their system can be detected.

It is interesting that the URL for a story on this includes the term "stopgap"  cbc.ca/news/business/ai-code-of-conduct-stopgap which is defined as a temporary way of dealing with a problem or satisfying a need.

Something similar to Canada's plan is expected to be done in the United States and in the European Union via the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

Bias has always existed. It has always existed online. Now, with AI, there is another level of bias.

Bias generated by technology is “more than a glitch,” says one expert.

For example, why does AI have a bias against dark skin? It is because its data is scraped from the Internet, and the Internet is full of biased content.

This doesn't give AI a pass on bias. It is more of a comment or reflection on bias in general.

It is an important issue to cover but, unfortunately, I am not surprised to see a report covered with a BBC headline "More girls than boys exposed to harmful content online."

Teenage girls are more likely to be asked for nude photos online or be sent pornography or content promoting self-harm than boys, a report has found. The report is based on survey responses from around 6,500 young people, and they found that girls are "much more likely to experience something nasty or unpleasant online."

YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and TikTok were the most popular social media sites for both age groups, but more than three-quarters of 14-18-year-olds also used Instagram.

Many respondents reported spending significant amounts of time online. For instance, a third of 14-18-year-olds reported spending four hours or more online during a school day.  Almost two-thirds reported spending more than four hours online at weekends. One in five 14-18-year-olds said they spent more than seven hours a day online on weekends.

One example is that one in five children and young people who took part in the research said something nasty or unpleasant had recently happened to them online. The most common experience was that "mean or nasty comments" were made about them or sent to them. But there was a difference between boys and girls when it came to the type of nasty online experience they had. Girls were more likely to have mean or nasty comments made about them or rumors spread about them.

More than 5% of girls aged 14-18 said they had been asked to send nude photos or videos online or expose themselves, three times higher than the rate among boys. More than 5% of 14-18 year-old girls also said they had seen or been sent pornography, and twice as many girls as boys reported being sent "inappropriate photos" they had not asked for. More girls than boys also reported being sent content promoting suicide, eating disorders and self-harm.

I spent all my years in higher education working in instructional technology. One of the parts of the department I ran with that title was our instructional designers. I think that if you had asked me in the early part of the century what the difference was between instructional design and learning design - a term that was not in use at the start of my higher ed career - I would have said that instructional design is learning design. But today, there is a distinction.

"Learning design" and "instructional design" are closely related fields but learning design pertains to the overarching process of designing learning experiences and environments. It encompasses the full range of the learning process from determining learners' needs to assessment.

Instructional design is a more specific aspect of learning design. It takes the principles of learning and instruction and creates concrete plans for instructional materials and experiences. You may call someone a learning designer but I stay with the instructional designer (ID) being the one crafting course content, activities, and evaluations. 

Learning design includes many kinds of designs - informal, experiential, and self-directed learning. The ID focuses on the actual learning experiences.

A book or course on learning design will present models like ADDIE.  Learning design is holistic design. Instructional design tailors the content and activities for formal learning.