A research subsidiary of one of the world’s biggest technology companies is developing a chatbot to support teachers in classrooms in England.
Google DeepMind is seeking to build a version of its artificial intelligence chatbot, Gemini, to be “grounded in the national curriculum for England”, which is being reshaped after the government’s curriculum and assessment review was published in November.
A notice on the chatbot plan was published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of its “memorandum of understanding between the UK and Google DeepMind on AI opportunities and security”.
Tes understands that this work will not be publicly funded.
AI tutors in schools
The announcement comes after Tes revealed that the Department for Education was exploring how artificial intelligence tutors could be used in schools.
Google DeepMind is a British-American AI research laboratory whose work with the government comes as part of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which states that AI will be a “useful tool for assessment in the education sector”.
It has also been confirmed that Google DeepMind and Google Cloud will explore a “Gemini for Government” offer for UK government departments.
While the DfE has already encouraged schools to use AI in accordance with its official guidance, it has called on teachers to always check outputs generated by AI for “accuracy”.
Oak welcomes Google plan
Oak National Academy, which is an arm’s-length body of the DfE that provides curriculum resources, also has its own government-approved AI lesson assistant.
Aila is the first publicly available AI tool to create lesson plans and teaching resources.
However, John Roberts, interim chief executive of Oak National Academy, said he was not concerned about Google joining the market.
“It’s great to see Google and other tech developers designing and building AI models for use in the classroom,” he said.
Oak’s digital content and data can be used to train the large language models that power generative AI tools, he added.
“We look forward to working with Google and a wide range of tech companies in this work,” Mr Roberts said.
You can now get the UK’s most-trusted source of education news in a mobile app. Get Tes magazine on iOS and on Android
