At the heart of the IB philosophy is the belief that students should be active participants in their education. Each of the four IB programmes empowers students to take charge of their own learning and equips them with the skills they need to thrive in our ever-changing world. An IB education encourages students to be curious, think critically and challenge the status quo.
AI offers enhanced learning experiences
Rather than shying away from artificial intelligence (AI), the IB is excited by the opportunities that these tools bring to education to enhance learning experiences and provide additional support to our students. AI tools are designed in a way that they can be used to encourage students to think critically and creatively, by engaging students in thought-provoking discussions and challenging them to think beyond the usual perspectives.
AI in learning and teaching
Students will need to be taught to understand the bias inherent in the content that an AI tool produces and to critically review it—an important skill to learn in an IB education. Students should also be taught that AI-generated work included in a piece of assessment must be credited in the body of the text and appropriately referenced in the bibliography.
And not only do we think that these tools are beneficial for students, they also hold the potential to lighten the workload of our dedicated educators and schools. By leveraging these AI tools, educators can free up valuable time to spend more quality moments with their students.
How the IB is utilizing AI
At the IB, we will continue to rely on human examiners to mark the IB assessments. However, in addition to our existing checks, we are exploring utilizing AI as a quality control tool to detect inadvertent inaccuracies that could potentially be made by examiners during the marking process. In such cases, we would then seek an additional (human) investigation to ensure accuracy. Together, we can navigate the challenges and embrace this technology's exciting possibilities.
Support and resources
- The IB Academic Integrity policy (PDF, 3.1 MB) has been updated to include a new appendix on the Guidance on the use of artificial intelligence tools (page 53). This section will help schools to support their students on how to use these tools ethically, in line with the IB’s principles of academic integrity.
- Sample Theory of knowledge (TOK) activities:
- A list of common questions and concerns, as well as links to further reading and useful resources can be found here (PDF, 188 KB).
- Dr Matthew Glanville, Director of Assessment at the IB, shares his views on the short-term impact that these tools will have on IB assessments and how they could change education as we know it in the long term in this blog article.
- Dr Glanville also provided advice on referencing AI tools such as ChatGPT during a recent inquiry by the UK Parliament Science and Technology Committee on the governance of artificial intelligence. The presentation (in English) has been broken down into three short audio clips:
