Artificial intelligence is not yet sufficiently fine-tuned to replace us

The absence of face-to-face exams due to COVID-19 forced the UK authorities to use an algorithm to grade students who opted to transfer from high school to university.

To be asked about artificial intelligence to the thousands of students in the UK who find they can't get into the university they want because of the grades they get. an algorithm has put them.

Like our old Selectivitynow called EBAUA Level examinations are tests that students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take after successfully passing the A Level exams. your bachelor's degree. The results of this academic test determine which university studies can be taken.. But confinement has made it impossible to hold such an assessment, so someone in the English government thought that an algorithm would solve it, period.

But the problem of algorithms, which is what Artificial Intelligence is basically based on, is always the same, someone has to program it with some guidelines, and according to those guidelines, someone has to program it with some guidelines, and according to those guidelines, someone has to program it with some guidelines, and according to those guidelines, and according to those guidelines, someone has to program it with some guidelines. human guidesThe final result will depend on the cold end result. In this case the algorithm was programmed to take into account factors that now, in view of the results, seem questionableThe students have had the right to appeal these grades.

In Scotland, the government was forced to change tactics completely after it tens of thousands of students were demoted by the algorithm that changed grades based on a school's past performance and other factors. In anticipation of a repeat of the situation in England, the British government introduced a "triple lock"The students could, through appeals, choose their grade based on a teacher's evaluation, the results of their mock exam or a retake to be held in the fall.

The mess has had a disproportionate effect on the students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with implications for their college applications. and in their careers.

And the fact is that ethnic minority students from poorer backgrounds have received a downward assessment by how the algorithm was designed, which took into account, in the first place, teachers' evaluations that may be lower than those of white students due to unconscious bias, according to some studies. But not everyone agrees on this point. The research by Kaili Rimfeld at King's College London, based on data from more than 10,000 students, has found that teacher evaluations are generally good predictors of future exam performance, although the best predictor of exam success is prior exam success.

But, fearing these potentially biased teacher evaluations, the algorithm took into account historical school performance and other factors that might have little to do with individual student effort.

In fact, according to TESThe 60% of this year's A-Level grades have been determined through statistical modeling, not teacher evaluation.

This means that a bright student in an underperforming school may have had his or her grade lowered by the poor average performance of last year's students in your school. This is what appears to have happened in Scotland, where boys from poorer backgrounds were twice as likely to have lower results than those from richer areas.

To complete the curl, the appeals process in England is up to the schoolThe school, not the pupil, so that pupils will not be able to appeal on their own behalf. This means that schools with more resources will be able to dedicate themselves to appealing on behalf of their students, while those schools that are more disadvantaged and with fewer staff, which tend to be those located in poor areas, will find that they cannot materially fight to improve their students' grades.

Teachers are appalled at the disaster that has been allowed to happen. They argue that the exams should have been postponed.. Now, they say, they are in a situation in which the results have become a political issue and they maintain that today's students are tomorrow's voters.

Universities are also watching the situation nervously. They suspect that many students, at least those at schools that can afford the appeals, will end up receiving the rating they want. This will have an impact on the university places available and whether those who will be able to access them really deserve them.

In short, we are back to square one. Algorithms only generate a result that has been previously designed by man.. In this case, the English testing regulator Ofqual used school performance data to avoid grade inflation, when instead, it should have used hidden bias data to counteract social injustice.

Result: chaos in the United Kingdom, coupled with the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the still existing COVID-19 health alert... and Brexit. An explosive cocktail for the Islands.

Information based on an article in Wired UK by Amit Katwala @amitkatwala
Cover image by Christian Erfurt

Discover more from Situación Crítica, el Blog

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.