Inspiring the next generation: Exploring robotics, AI, and ethics with High School Students

Professor Burkhard Schafer recently led a session with a group of pupils at Balerno High School in Edinburgh to explore the intersection of robotics, AI, and ethics. The session explored how AI technologies are rapidly becoming part of their daily lives, the ethical questions that they raise, and what laws there are to protect us all from possible harm.

Pupils took what they had learned to a group activity introducing them to the key ideas of “value-led design.” The activity asked them what capabilities they would like their own robots to have and how they should act and look.

Talking to the Centre for Technomoral Futures, Professor Schafer said: "The divide between STEM and non-STEM fields is still prevalent, with students often deciding early on that certain subjects are not for them. This limits their future choices and deprives fields like law of the scientific literacy needed to regulate emerging technologies effectively. I wanted to communicate some of the excitement that comes from working across disciplinary boundaries and the type of challenges that affect them in their daily lives, but that can only be tackled when scientists, lawyers and philosophers work together. "

Read more about the experience in the Centre for Technomoral Future's blog post: Centre for Technomoral Futures: Inspiring the next generation: Exploring robotics, AI, and ethics with high school students.

If you are interested in inviting a member of SCRIPT or the Centre for Technomoral Futures to your classroom to support the curriculum, please contact Burkhard Schafer at b.schafer@ed.ac.ujk, or  get in touch with the Centre for Technomoral Futures to discuss your needs in more detail.