Start with defining the problem, not the algorithm: Designing AI for education
Poor learning outcomes, a widening skills-jobs mismatch, and questions over what higher education is for in the 21st century – can AI be used to provide some answers, and if so, how should it be built?
Starting with the problem, not the technology
Too often, AI adoption starts with the technology before working backward to find a use for it. A training at Digital Learning Week 2026, gathering participants from over 20 countries, flipped that order.
Mapping out the stakeholder groups and the problems those groups face surfaced issues of poor learning outcomes in elementary schools, mismatches between skills and jobs, the purpose of higher education in the 21st century, and the risk that AI could erode the authority and expertise of teachers.
This sequencing matters. Naming the problem first makes clear where AI complements other non-technological interventions rather than replacing them, and where AI might not be the answer at all. It also gives policymakers an informed view of the risks up front, and the chance to build in mitigations, rather than adopting AI first and discovering the risks later.
Putting ethics before deployment
The second essential aspect for AI deployment is that ethical review works best before a system is built, not after. Using UNESCO's Ethical Impact Assessment methodology (grounded in UNESCO's Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, participants ran a simplified assessment against the very problems they had just identified, describing each proposed AI system in detail and mapping the procedures for mitigation of the risks before deployment.
The exercise reframed ethics as a key design element rather than a compliance checkpoint: a way of evaluating the ethical implications of the proposed AI system from the outset, rather than retrofitting safeguards once problems appear.
UNESCO's broader work on AI, education and the public sector
These two principles — defining the problem before technology, and ethics before deployment — underpin UNESCO's wider effort to help governments regulate AI for and by people, in ways that are ethical, inclusive, and human rights-based. UNESCO has developed AI competency frameworks for civil servants, students, and teachers, and has trained over 35,000 civil servants from 190 countries on designing public services integrated with AI while upholding its ethical governance.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
