At Lyfta, we believe in empowering educators to unlock meaningful learning experiences through our innovative storyworlds. Our new storyworld, The Age of AI, features Ilya Sutskever, Co-Founder of OpenAI and a key figure in the development of AI. This storyworld exemplifies our commitment to integrating contemporary and relevant content into our platform, providing students with insights into the life and work of one of AI's leading pioneers, highlighting the potential and the ethical considerations of AI.
The film’s Norwegian director Tonje Hessen Schei is an award-winning filmmaker who likes to tackle big societal issues in her films. She first met Mr Sutskever when she filmed him for her feature length documentary iHuman. Last year, she produced a 30-minute film focusing solely on Sutskever and his story. Tonje, whom we’ve known since 2009 through our film work, let us create a version of the short film for Lyfta and we produced a storyworld that looks at AI and technological development from a wider societal perspective, highlighting both the positives and the negatives. Our learning resources focus on issues like online safety, social media, deep fakes and digital literacy for young people. We hope that The Age of AI will help you deepen your knowledge around the topic and we believe it will bring up lots of valuable discussion in classrooms.
We have created the storyworld with lots of valuable rich media articles and lesson plans, suitable both for primary and secondary students. You’re invited to visit five different places in our 360 scenes around San Francisco, where the Open AI headquarters are located. You will be visiting the same spots that Ilya is seen in in the film. You might notice that one of the 360 scenes (the server room) has been created using AI tools. We did this to demonstrate how lifelike AI images can be, and how it’s important to state when an image has been created with AI.
As well as the main documentary film featuring Sutskever titled ‘The man behind Chat GPT’, the media and learning resources within the storyworld include:
- A rich media article about San Francisco as a city and tech hub
- An exclusive interview with political journalist Lee Fang, on AI and society
- A rich media article on online safety for primary students
- A two-part rich media article on digital literacy, where you’ll learn about how algorithms exploit our private data, drive social media use and contribute to addictive behaviours. In the article you can watch video interviews with technology experts exploring some of these issues. In part two you will learn about deepfakes and how to deal with harmful fake news. Watch a video of technologist Hao Li demonstrating how deepfakes workRich media articles on the history of AI and the environmental impacts of AI
- Fun 360 videos of life around San Francisco
Watch our storyworld overview video presented by our in-house teacher Noel for practical tips on how you can begin teaching with this storyworld.
What is AI?
AI or Artificial Intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines designed to think and learn like humans. In education, AI can be used to personalise learning experiences, automate administrative tasks, and provide real-time feedback, among other applications. While AI holds great promise, its integration into education also raises important questions and concerns.
Insights from Lyfta's AI roundtables with educators
Recently Lyfta hosted six roundtable discussions all around the UK with school and trust leaders, educators, technology experts, and young people, together exploring the impact of AI on education and society. These discussions highlighted both the hopes and the concerns associated with the development and integration of AI, summarised below:
Hopes
- AI can help to solve major global and societal problems in healthcare, education, poverty and climate
- AI may reduce unnecessary workloads and tasks, allowing educators to focus more on relationships and inspiring students and to have a better work-life balance
- AI can help to eradicate discrimination and close gaps between disadvantaged and better-off children
Concerns
- Disinformation/deepfakes/truth and AI can amplify extreme views
- The loss of intimacy and real human connection may occur
- AI is progressing too quickly and outpacing human understanding, ethics and control
- Certain groups are being left behind or disadvantaged if they lack access to AI technologies
- Loss of jobs and economic disruption may occur
These valuable insights from the roundtables have contributed to the shaping of our new storyworld.
Embracing AI responsibly
As we navigate the integration of AI into education, it is essential to develop AI literacy among both educators and students. This includes understanding AI's capabilities and limitations, using AI tools responsibly, and fostering critical thinking skills to navigate the digital landscape.
Lyfta's platform is designed to support educators on this journey. Our interactive and immersive resources provide a window into diverse cultures and perspectives, helping students develop the socio-emotional intelligence and intercultural competencies needed to thrive in a fast-changing world. At Lyfta, we are committed to supporting educators through this transition, providing innovative tools and resources that bring learning to life.
We will be running special free live lessons featuring The Age of AI during the week of the 30th September. If you already have a Lyfta account, we’ll be in touch when bookings go live, if not, sign up to a free trial to be kept informed.
If you are subscribed to Lyfta, log in to explore The Age of AI now. If you don't yet have a Lyfta account, sign up for a free trial to explore Lyfta's storyworlds.
What is Lyfta?
Lyfta offers a groundbreaking solution for educators seeking to broaden their students' horizons, offering access to a range of people, places and perspectives that would otherwise be impossible. Imagine being able to teleport your entire class to a new destination every week, immersing them in the vibrant cultures and compelling stories of people from around the globe.
