In this episode of Digital Dominoes, host Angeline Corvaglia is joined by Ilkem Kayican Dipcin, an academic instructor at Sabanci University. It is part 1 of a 3-part series where they discuss a survey conducted among 76 freshman students on their interests and concerns regarding generative AI. The conversation highlights key insights from the survey, including students' keen interest in learning effective AI usage and about AI algorithms. This contrasts with their limited interest in learning about AI ethics and societal impacts. The series gives a very interesting look into university students' views on using AI, and underscores the necessity of comprehensive education on AI, balancing career ambitions with ethical awareness.

00:00 Introduction to Digital Dominoes

00:30 Understanding Generative AI

01:14 Survey Insights: Student Perspectives

03:31 Aha Moments and Key Findings

06:53 The Importance of Algorithm Awareness

10:44 Ethical Concerns and Data Privacy

15:14 Conclusion and Future Discussions

Special thanks to

Ilkem Kayican Dipcin for taking time to be a part of this episode!

Find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilkem-kayican-dipcin-25682977/

Episode sponsored by Data Girl and Friends

They are on a mission to build awareness and foster critical thinking about AI, online safety, privacy, and digital citizenship. They inspire the next generation to navigate the digital world confidently and responsibly through fun, engaging, and informative content. They focus on empowering young digital citizens and their families through engaging and informative learning.

Find out more at: https://data-girl-and-friends.com/

List of Data Girl and Friends materials about some of the topics covered:

• Article for young teens about the responsible use of generation AI for learning: https://data-girl-and-friends.com/in-school-how-to-make-sure-ai-assists-not-replaces/
• Educational workbook for teens: "The Empathy Challenge: Discover the importance of empathy in the digital world."  https://data-girl-and-friends.pagetiger.com/empathy-challenge/1
• Ayla AI Girl video, "What does AI understand?" https://vimeo.com/916925937
• Ayla AI Girl video, "Does AI have an opinion?" https://vimeo.com/919742701 

Contact us for any questions or comments: https://digi-dominoes.com/contact-us/ 

Digital dominoes. Hello and welcome to Digital Dominoes. I'm Angeline Corvaglia and in this show we're diving into today's technology to pave the way for a brighter future. My guests and I are exploring how each piece of knowledge, much like a domino, interconnects and influences our digital worlds. The insights and advice we share will not only help you stay secure online, but also help you flourish.

Today we're going to talk about educating college students about generative AI. What are they most interested in learning and what are they concerned about? Just to be sure we're all on the same page, generative AI is artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, videos, or other data. And as you can imagine, it can be massive support for students doing their homework.

So earlier this year, I worked with Ilkem on a short but very interesting survey of her first year university students’ opinions on generative AI and what they want to learn about it. Can you tell us a little bit about those students, like what kind of students they are, what they're studying, just to give some background?

So they, I mean, when it comes to their major, because of the nature of the university that I'm working in, most of them have the intention to study computer engineering or management, finance, and different engineering departments, generally, because we are a research university. That's why generally the, the cohort probably, uh, will have engineering major. Yeah. That's actually really important to keep in mind as we discovered when we were looking at the results of the survey, we're like, Oh, wow, these people are really interested in understanding the algorithm, which we'll talk about later. And, and you explained, Oh, a lot of them are technical.

And I think in the survey, please correct me if I'm wrong, they, they are curious about what they would like to be educated about is like, that is some kind of a concern and awareness at the same time. Because if they're [00:04:00] concerned, what kind of job market is ahead of them, that they will require some artificial intelligence skills.

Yes, we use it, but actually that wasn't necessary. You know, I think that was also another aha moment for me. And I think that was reflected in the comment section of the survey by someone. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'll read that comment just in a second. I think the one that you're referring to. Seeing that other educators who are really getting AI into their classroom.

And I'm very concerned about impacts on society. And when you ask them, obviously, that shouldn't have surprised me. As you said, they're most concerned about jobs because, well, yeah, that's where they are in life, right? They need to understand how am I going to finance my life for the next 50, 60 years.

Totally. And yeah, it's really interesting. We have to really remember that as adults. Oh, yeah. I mean, by the way, maybe it is important to say that there were 76 participants to the survey and like more than 50 percent said that they are using, I mean, when we conducted the survey, they were using, um, artificial intelligence or maybe ChatGPT, mostly, uh, databases.

Yes. And, and I'm talking about youth in general. Mm-Hmm. that they know that Algorithms are there. And I believe that once they get on the social media, wherever they get this information from also from peers, from also the videos they see online. But they, we think we need to tell them this, but they know it's there.

But there were really important things about where the algorithm got the information that they didn't know. That's really, yeah, that's very important because according to World Economic Forum report in 2023, the most important skills that you need to develop, it's like, uh, the, the projection of 2027. Um, one of the thing is like big data and algorithms.

You need to develop that skill, how those algorithms work and what is your relationship with data, the data, the big data. And I think that's fair from the survey that you shared. It makes sense. Yeah, I think it is. I think it's absolutely fair. And, and I think that, that also the results of our survey, just to give some numbers that we asked the question, what the people, what they wanted to get more education and support in, and they could answer more than one.

It was 29 percent and learning responsible usage and ethics, it was 20%. And that goes back to what you, you said. And I think that the youth just know that and we are always. We, we I'm talking about adults. Yeah. A lot of really under-estimate how much they already know. They, they know, as you say, that algorithms are everywhere.

Totally. I agree with that. Also, Angeline, I have another, you know, critical thinking, I will be doing this critical thinking. I wonder, maybe that's culturally different in different countries, different students might, you know, prioritize different things. Yeah. But I wonder if this is about prioritization, like you say, I mean, maybe if they really prioritize learning about algorithms, big data, and how they will use these AI tools and how they work. I mean, what is the architecture behind this artificial intelligence? If they know it, probably they would understand the ethical concerns, risks, and the vital impacts of it. Although they think that they don't need it at the moment. I think I [00:11:00] will not, for example, change my approach that I will keep reminding them the risks and ethical concerns about AI in the classroom because they might not be aware of it yet.

I mean, that's my, I think so too. Yeah, I, I had the same thought because as a former CFO, I'm very much risk. I look at the world from a risk. It's yeah... Sometimes I try to stop it, but it's just bigger than me. I just see the risks everywhere. I can't not just talk about this risk and responsible uses and ethics.

And I read that and I was like, wow, should I change my approach? And then I figured, no, I just need to dress it up differently. Totally. Because I also think they'll figure it out over the, these last months. I've been trying to figure out what can we do to get more like youth interested in not being controlled by like social media, for example?

Yeah. Yeah. If they don't know that. Yeah. Then how will they figure it out for themselves? And I know that if you link it in their minds, your independence, it's not about someone making limits for you, like having a phone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Independently thinking person. Um, totally. It's, it's same with data privacy.

I'm not sure if they know that it's, uh, it's an open source training data, where, what to put, what is data, what is about… and I appreciate all your work in data privacy and raising awareness of the young people. So I think they, they also still need to understand this. I think so. I actually, I was speaking to, obviously the other side of the generation. I was speaking to a retired engineer, and this man spent his whole.

H said, what does that have to do with AI? Why are you talking about privacy now? I mean, that's a path that we need to connect, and as you said before, your student's age, they're very unfortunate because, sorry. And that's one thing I I've been working on is some other episodes feature my, my digital defenders, young digital defenders who are just starting out in the digital world.

And I'm trying to open up basic information about algorithms that they exist. And I think we can start with the younger generation, and they'll be in a completely different position. Ones who are becoming adults now are in a very unfortunate situation because they grew up in a certain way, and all of a sudden, this new factor came in.

And that's it for the first part of our three part series discussing these survey results. Today, we learn that Ilkem’s students are very interested in acquiring AI skills to boost their future career prospects. However, there's a noticeable gap in their understanding of the ethical and societal implications of AI, particularly regarding privacy issues with generative AI.

Be sure to join us for the next two parts of this series to learn about the survey results. Next time, we'll dive into which aspects of AI's impact on society and their personal lives intrigue students the most. Let us know what you think, check out more, and subscribe at digi-dominoes.com.

Thank you for listening, and thank you Ilkem for joining me. I'd also like to thank our sponsor Data Girl and Friends. Their mission is to build awareness and foster critical thinking about AI, online safety, privacy, and digital citizenship through fun, engaging, and informative content. Check them out at data-girl-and-friends.com.

Until next time, stay curious and keep learning. Digital Dominoes.