TeachingTimes: Your book, 'The Fourth Education Revolution', was published in 2018. In it, you referred to education as the 'Cinderella' subject of AI – as in, something that was unjustly overlooked. Do you think this is still the case in 2024?
Sir Anthony Seldon: Yes, I do, and I think there's a real risk that we are going to fall behind other countries. Firstly, I think there is a risk that we're going to miss the benefits of the technologies in helping young people, particularly in subjects like mathematics and science where the technology is more advanced.
It is easier for AI to help students learn in STEM subjects than it is in some of the arts subjects, and still more so the performing arts subjects. It so happens that AI is most advanced in some of the greatest areas of teacher specialist shortage. So, the second risk is that we're going to miss out on that.
Thirdly, I think there is a risk involving tech companies. Digital technology has brought some benefits to young people, while also doing them immeasurable harm. Schools never got on top of social media and were never part of the conversation. Unless we use this time now to safeguard the interests of the child – of the learner – then tech companies will do what tech companies everywhere around the world do, which is to maximise their sales and their revenue. There's nothing good or bad about that, it's just the way they operate.
I think a bright sign is that the government have at last a minister in Baroness Diana Barran who has been empowered by the education secretary to lead on this subject, and there are some gifted officials in the DfE who at last have been given the opportunity to lead on this. For 12 years, since 2010, the Conservative government really wasn't interested in AI despite a lot of encouragement to become so. That neglect, I think, has done enormous damage. We have lost huge opportunities and are now playing catch-up.