(from the Algorithm Watch newsletter here
https://r.algorithmwatch.org/nl3/dAy5-iYV4Kk4Edf6OpbOmg )
*All in for innovation.* Last July, I wrote a story about 200
undergraduates who failed their exams after a proctoring system had
flagged their performance during their tests
<https://algorithmwatch.org/en/spain-students-failed-blame-automated-proctoring/>.
I was in talks with a communication officer of the university in
question. When he figured out that my reporting would not benefit the
institution’s prestige, he tried to divert me from writing what happened
and convince me of a supposedly much more uncontroversial subject:
applying Artificial Intelligence to measure students' performances in
the future.
He did not say “emotion recognition” but described a software that could
track students’ academic trajectories and scan their movements to
assess, for instance, if their motivation might be dwindling. The
university had been working on a similar project with IBM in 2018
<https://www.unir.net/actualidad/investigacion/inteligencia-artificial-para-mejorar-el-rendimiento-de-los-alumnos/>,
but at the time, it didn’t involve real-time image analysis. The
software is yet to be deployed. With all the marketing effort to hype
the technology, one can guess that the project might have been dropped
(or delayed) because the implementation proved to be more difficult.
*Tech vs. psychology.* It’s not the first time (nor will it be the last)
that education institutions toy with face and emotion recognition
systems. Some secondary schools in France were forced to ban face
recognition
<https://etudiant.lefigaro.fr/article/la-justice-interdit-la-reconnaissance-faciale-dans-les-lycees_85e63228-596c-11ea-9119-26e5bd4c14e9/>
on the premises. Teachers in Denmark use apps to measure the “mood
landscape”
<https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/17/1071137/denmark-teachers-apps-student-mood-audit-software/>
of elementary students. The apps have costed the government millions of
crowns.
In Spain, almost every autonomous region has incorporated these tools in
their Artificial Intelligence strategies. They plan to improve the
academic careers of students, either by scanning grade histories or
measuring their behavior in real time. None of them have actually moved
forward with it
<https://www.businessinsider.es/estrategias-ia-espana-no-estan-sirviendo-nada-1314588>,
but it’s /cool/ and avant-garde to say they will. They are not
completely to blame for trying, taking into account that even the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is pushing
AI to “assess knowledge” and “gauge emotion” <https://archive.ph/I9Nb9>.
*Outdated ideas.* The people heralding these tools as the future of
education seem to care little about researchers criticizing the
pseudo-scientific approach of emotion recognition technology
<https://www.article19.org/emotion-recognition-technology-report/>. The
use of AI to predict people’s behavior or interpret their emotional
state is fundamentally based in the assumption that the expression of
emotions is universal and limited to six basic states
<https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ps.30.020179.002523>.
This is scientifically untenable and has been harshly refuted
<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1529100619832930>. A smile
doesn't always mean happiness, just as a wide range of expressions can
indicate anger. Even if automated systems can detect an expression, they
don't know what to make of it. Yet, some enthusiasts trust that AI will
not only swiftly interpret human emotions but also predict people’s
behavior and make decisions on that basis. Minors and migrants (or both)
are a testing ground <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535569/> in many
cases.
The recently-approved AI Act bans emotion recognition systems in schools
but carves out exemptions for “medical” or “safety” reasons. It remains
to be seen if the AI Act will protect students and pupils from
transgressive surveillance rooted in pseudo-scientific discourse.
--
-- EN
https://www.hoepli.it/libro/la-rivoluzione-informatica/9788896069516.html
======================================================
Prof. Enrico Nardelli
Past President di "Informatics Europe"
Direttore del Laboratorio Nazionale "Informatica e Scuola" del CINI
Dipartimento di Matematica - Università di Roma "Tor Vergata"
Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc - 00133 Roma
home page: https://www.mat.uniroma2.it/~nardelli
blog: https://link-and-think.blogspot.it/
tel: +39 06 7259.4204 fax: +39 06 7259.4699
mobile: +39 335 590.2331 e-mail: narde...@mat.uniroma2.it
online meeting: https://blue.meet.garr.it/b/enr-y7f-t0q-ont
======================================================
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