Measures to Develop Baseline Artificial Intelligence Literacy of Students

Mr Ong Hua Han asked the Minister for Education (a) how many students have applied to join the Artificial Intelligence Student Outreach Programme; (b) what is the respective percentage of applicants who are from (i) secondary schools (ii) polytechnics (iii) Integrated Programme schools and (iv) junior colleges; and (c) whether there are plans to increase the take-up rate of the programme.

Mr Speaker, Sir, Members have asked how the Ministry of Education (MOE) plans to prepare our students, teachers and the workforce on the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) and address potential risks, such as data breaches, misuse and fake news spread through AI systems.

MOE recognises that AI will become increasingly pervasive in the workplace and in our daily lives. To prepare our students and workforce, MOE develops students’ foundational knowledge of AI and promotes its safe and responsible use in schools and at the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). Educators in schools and IHLs are provided with guidance, resources and training to effectively harness it to enhance learning.

Students acquire relevant digital literacies, such as understanding AI, its uses and limitations, and ethical considerations in the course of learning different subjects. Students also have opportunities to further their learning through school-based programmes, such as co-curricular activities, Applied Learning Programmes (ALPs) and enrichment programmes, which may be taught by teachers, industry partners and service providers.

One example is the AI Student Outreach Programme conducted by AI Singapore. In 2023, close to 17,000 students applied to join the programme, with the breakdown of applicants as follows: (a) 11% from the polytechnics; (b) 52% from the secondary schools; (c) 11% from the IP schools; and (d) 3% from the junior colleges. Students from the autonomous universities and the Institute of Technical Education make up the remaining 23% of applicants.

Besides knowledge of AI, schools and IHLs have measures to guard against the risks of AI. In schools, students are taught cyber wellness skills, which include evaluating information and identifying fake news including those transmitted through AI systems, understanding data security, privacy and responsible online behaviours. Teachers also guide students to use AI to support their learning, emphasising ethics related to the use of data and AI, such as the importance of integrity and proper data handling.

The IHLs also incorporate the use of AI tools in specific domains to ensure students understand the risks that AI poses, such as the potential to perpetuate misinformation. They also have governance frameworks to ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI.

Beyond our schools and IHLs, working adults can take up AI-related SkillsFuture courses to become smart and secure users of AI in their respective industries.

Mr Speaker, Sir, if I have your permission, let me illustrate this with some real examples of what is happening in our schools and IHLs.

Teachers at Temasek Primary School taught students to use an AI tool called Stable Diffusion, which is a generative AI image-generator, when learning about sustainability concepts as part of the school's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) ALP. Guided by their teachers, students learn how to write prompts, evaluate the effectiveness of their prompts and adjust them to improve the quality of the generated images as they create an e-book to advocate sustainability.

Another example: students at Montfort Secondary School learn AI through their STEM ALP. Students learn the basic AI applications, such as image recognition, chatbots and smart assistants that use natural language processing. Students build on this knowledge and further apply it in the Design and Technology subject to design products, such as a blockchain-inspired smart savings application that tracks spending habits and automates money deposits.

Yet another example: at Peirce Secondary School, they use generative AI tools in coursework subjects like Design and Technology, and Nutrition and Food Science. Design and Technology teachers guide their students to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Vizcom to generate new ideas for their products, develop their ability to sketch, visualise and imagine solutions for their prototypes. At Yuan Ching Secondary School, students also use AI to generate ideas for their Nutrition and Food Science projects. In both schools, students are taught to evaluate the credibility of AI-generated content by corroborating it with other reliable information sources. Students are also taught to acknowledge the use of AI tools and other sources in their reports. This helps them to use AI ethically.

At a higher level, Anderson Serangoon Junior College partnered AI Singapore to introduce students to foundational learning in AI. Through a jointly organised event, "Prepping for an AI career revolution", students learn about AI and its use cases and engage in a dialogue with industry leaders. Anderson Serangoon Junior College also developed the infocomms technology (ICT) Champions Programme to enhance digital literacy and skills amongst interested students.

At another level, we also use an AI-enabled adaptive learning system (ALS) for mathematics that has been made available through our Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS) for Primary 5-level topics since 2023, with more topics to be progressively rolled out in the next two years.

At St Hilda's Primary School, teachers guide students to use customised recommended resources for self-learning or embark on a different lesson if they wish to explore a different sub-topic. At Rosyth School, before using the ALS, students undergo an introductory module on how AI can be used and its ethical considerations to ensure students use AI safely and holistically.

At Temasek Polytechnic's Diploma in Interior Architecture and Design, students are taught to use AI tools to aid them in the design process, such as using ChatGPT to generate design statements and Midjourney to generate reference images.

Singapore University of Technology and Design's Design and Artificial Intelligence Programme equips our students with technical expertise in AI and design innovation skills. Core domains covered include algorithms, AI applications in design and applied deep learning. Through acquiring such competencies in the various domains, graduates can apply AI-driven designs to transform the economy and improve lives.

Mr Speaker, Sir, these are various examples where we apply AI and teach AI in our schools according to the age-appropriate level.

I thank Minister Chan for his answer. I have one supplementary question. I understand that the SLS holds a repository of lessons for our students to engage with at their own pace, outside curriculum hours. Could MOE consider recognising a student's commitment to completing all the self-paced lessons, perhaps under the LEAPS 2.0 framework for secondary school students or in some other way?

Mr Speaker, Sir, we thank Mr Ong for the suggestion. I would like to share with Members of the House that in the SLS, there are different types of modules. There are modules that are part of the core curriculum – or part of the school curriculum – which the students can access and help them to pace their own learning. Within the SLS, there are also modules that are outside the school curriculum or available in other schools, which the students can access at their own time to learn about things beyond the curriculum. We encourage the students to do so because we would like our students to develop the habit of initiating their own learning and taking charge of their own learning. Hopefully, these habits apply to them not just within the school premises, but also, throughout their lives.

We will take into account Mr Ong's suggestion.

Sir, I note that the Minister shared how schools are using generative AI in the instruction of their students, has there been any change in the stance of MOE on the use of generative AI for graded schoolwork and assignment submissions?

Secondly, do schools specifically teach all students on how to prompt generative AI models, since this is fast becoming a key skill for the workplace?

Mr Speaker, Sir, the short answer is that it depends on which level of exposure we give to the students. In the various examples I have highlighted just now, for example, at the primary school level, many of the things that we do are for exposure purposes, for the students to learn how to be a smart user.

We do not necessarily use it for assessment at all levels. But if I may give an example, at a higher level, the module at Temasek Polytechnic which they demonstrated to me, the students used generative AI as part of their coursework. When they use the generative AI coupled with the interior design course, what they figure out very quickly are two things.

First, with AI, they can refine the designs very quickly – using, perhaps, half the time that they used to, using the previous method. But the second thing that they have also learnt and very importantly, is how to sharpen – as the Member said – the prompt required in order to start the whole process. If the prompts are not well-crafted, then, you could be doing things very fast, but not necessarily down the correct path.

This is what we mean by age-appropriate lessons. At a certain level, you can apply AI and sharpen the skills necessary at that level. Different students at different levels learn to use AI at different levels of competencies and sophistication.

Thank you. I have a supplementary question. Relating to AI readiness, the Minister mentioned about schools preparing students for AI type of work skills. I just wanted to understand, what is the bridging with the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), in terms of getting students ready for the AI-type of work?

The second area would be in terms of ethics. For those in IHLs, when they enter the workforce, it is not just about being able to do the job, but it is also about how we shape the work that is carried out. I think there is quite a number of grey areas in terms of AI ethics. What would be the type of education pathways that we intend to introduce to IHL students to help them to better prepare for AI-types of job roles in the future?

Mr Speaker, Sir, let me make a few points in response to Ms Jean See's comments. First, we certainly agree that learning to use AI is important, but learning to use AI ethically is even more important. For us, from MOE's position, we will always couple the learning of the technical use of AI with the ethical use of AI. To us, that is very important.

This goes beyond just about giving credit to or informing people that you have used these tools. But more importantly, to know the downsides that the program or the AI algorithm – after all, it is an algorithm – may bring and some of the biases that may happen in the course of using that.

This is something that we are very careful about. We do not start this at the IHL level. For example, in one of my visits to the schools, the teachers encouraged their students to use an AI tool to help them craft an essay. But it is not about the essay that is most important. After they crafted the essay, the teachers wanted the students to: first, know the sources of information that the AI draws upon; then, the teachers encouraged the students to critique the AI product so that they can understand the upside and the downside of the product and also, the potential biases that that algorithm has generated.

So, it is through such examples that we allow our students to learn to use AI ethically.

My second part of the comments relates to how we are preparing our students for an AI-enabled world. There are two sub-parts to this.

First, at the broader level, it is making sure that our people are smart users – they know how to use this. That is easier done – how to use it, how to use it ethically and how to use it intelligently.

The other part is how to prepare our people to be the coders, the people to work on such algorithms. That is a bit more sophisticated. For that, our belief is that there are certain fundamentals that are important to equip our students across the board for them to get into careers in this track. For example, the importance of mathematics, logical thinking, computational skills – these are very important. So, we may not teach AI or we may not teach coding specifically. But behind coding, there are certain foundational skills that are very important.

Even in the recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, we are glad that our students have done well in terms of their ability to think logically and to exhibit traits of computational thinking. Because ultimately, in this AI-enabled world where there is an overflow of information, three words come to mind when we encourage our students to use AI.

First, the ability to distil, discern and to discover. Why these three?

Distil: because the world will be flooded with information. How to distil the information into what is relevant and useful to us, is the first important step.

Discern: because, having done that, it must come with value. Discernment comes with value. So, it is important to distil and discern.

But, very importantly, our students and our workers, in time to come, must be able to discover, which means to create new value propositions.

In today and tomorrow's world, none of us will be rewarded by regurgitating old knowledge or what I usually say, "No point answering yesterday's questions with yesterday's answers". What we need, is to prepare our students to answer tomorrow's questions and challenges with tomorrow's solutions ahead of time. That is where the discovery comes in and that ties in with the emphasis on self-initiated learning so that you take control of the mastery of the content that we want our students to have.

So, these are important skills for us to prepare our students for the AI-enabled world and we are working closely with MCI on the technical part to build up the repository of courses and knowledge for our students.

I thank the Minister for his answer. Last year, during the debate on the President's Address, I spoke on the age of AI and how Singapore needs to survive in it. I am glad that MOE is taking a serious look and making a serious push regarding AI in our education system. I have got two supplementary questions for the Minister.

Firstly, I have met Clementi parents who are excited by the prospects of AI but also the concerns about the implications for inequality and what happens when some households have better information technology (IT) access, IT opportunities and training opportunities than others. Can the Minister assure us that the opportunities he described in his answer are evenly available for students across households of diverse social economic backgrounds? That is my first question.

The second question is that there are also Clementi parents worried about media literacy in the age of AI. Recently, the Prime Minister, himself, mentioned the risk of deepfake videos. Are we educating our younger generation to be mindful of deepfakes, the risk of being tricked as well as the risk of deepfake technology being abused against peers in unethical ways?

Mr Speaker, Sir, let me take the second supplementary question first. The short answer is yes. We are concerned about the issue of misinformation – including deepfakes – and this is an ongoing topic of conversation in all our schools and IHLs. I think it is not just about schools and IHLs.

Actually, across our whole society, we should be equally concerned about this: how to distinguish truth from fake news, right from wrong. So, this is a concerted effort and MOE cannot do this alone. We will certainly partner all the stakeholders to make sure that we can share the right information – appropriate information – with our students and also the community, so that we all become more informed in the process without being misinformed by others or being proxies for other people's misinformation. That is important.

On the first supplementary question on inequality of access, it is precisely what we have been trying to do, which is to democratise the access. We are very keenly aware that some families may not have access to some of the materials in the past. But let me just give two examples of how we have done this and continue to do this.

First, is the SLS. In the past, some parents might have more resources and then they go and buy more resource materials for their children to read and worksheets to work on and so forth.

But today, I encourage everyone to check the SLS. If you have children who are in the school-going ages, you will find that within the SLS, there is an entire repository of all kinds of materials. The best teaching resources are available in the SLS. And your child does not need to just log on to do the homework that is being assigned by his or her teacher. He or she can also log on and do many other things that the teachers did not assign them. Recently, I put up a video to illustrate this because a Secondary 3 student, Kairos, demonstrated to me how he took charge of his own learning during the school holidays by accessing the modules on SLS – these are all free of charge, by the way – to learn at his own pace.

So, this is one way we democratise the access to all the best materials available across our own system. It helps our people to save time; it also allows everyone to have the access to similar materials.

Another example of how we have done this to democratise the access is that we make sure that even students from poorer family backgrounds do not get left out. It is the vivid example of how we have overcome a potential learning loss among such students during COVID-19.

When schools were closed during COVID-19, we did two things.

First, we made sure that even if the students do not come to school, they have access to laptops, tablets and computers so that they can learn at home and we even made sure that they have access to the bandwidth necessary to support the working of this laptop. And, of course, on top of that, for students who are unable to do such things at home, we even opened up the schools to allow them to continue their learning in schools.

So, our teachers actually run two systems in parallel whereby we have online access and also offline, back-in-the-school access. This is MOE's commitment to make sure that, through the use of technology, we do not end up with a digital divide but, instead, we use technology to democratise the access to the best material available to all students.

I thank the Minister for sharing the various initiatives to ensure ethical and responsible use of AI. Considering the danger of fake news and misinformation and the impact on public safety and security, would the Ministry consider adopting a comprehensive framework across Ministries to educate both parents and students, especially the younger children, on the concept of digital citizenship?

The answer is yes, we are working closely with MCI and other Ministries to do this. But I must say that this is an ongoing challenge not just for MOE or MCI; but it is a whole-of-society challenge. At the crux of it is whether we can have trusted sources of information, which goes to the core of our democratic system. We cannot have reasoned debate, elections and so forth, if we cannot trust the information that we are accessing. So, I think this requires a whole-of-nation effort and, definitely, MOE and MCI will be working closely with all our stakeholders to develop the framework that the Member suggested.