The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT opens new opportunities in the education sector and prompts a reevaluation of what learning means in the AI age. In the spring semester of 2024, two Vilnius University Law Faculty lecturers, Dr Paulius Jurčys and PhD student Goda Strikaitė-Latušinskaja applied next-generation tools by integrating their own AI knowledge twins into the curriculum, providing Master programme “International and European Law” and Erasmus students with unprecedented access to new-generation, real-time learning resources.
AI Knowledge Twins – an innovation in the VU
An AI knowledge twin is a digital avatar. The knowledge base of the AI twin consists of the lecturer’s scientific publications, teaching materials, and additional information about the lecturer and their experience. AI knowledge twins of the VU Law Faculty teachers – “Paul AI” and “Goda AI” – provided for students a new way to interact with their lecturers and their knowledge by asking questions and discussing the accumulated knowledge: more specifically, the knowledge base of “Paul AI” includes information on intellectual property rights, copyright, data protection, and innovation, while the knowledge base of “Goda AI” includes processes of law enforcement, court proceedings, and the application of data and AI technologies in the public sector.
This new form of interaction with the lecturers’ knowledge through their AI knowledge twins seems like an excellent opportunity to provide students with additional ways to engage with the course material. In addition to “Paul AI” and “Goda AI”, students were encouraged to use any and all other generative AI tools, including “ChatGPT”, “Inflection AI’s Pi”, “Anthropic’s Claude”, “Perplexity’s” search engine, you.com, etc.
Education in the age of artificial intelligence
The inclusion of AI tools in the curriculum necessitated rethinking fundamental teaching principles. How to conduct lectures when students are allowed to use any AI tool? What knowledge and skills should students learn to prepare them for a successful (legal) career? Given that students can get answers instantly using AI tools, what information is essential to be provided during lectures? How to integrate these AI tools in the course, assuming that students can get answers instantly using AI tools and less and less read the required and supplementary literature?
Another challenge in this Vilnius University Law Faculty project was: How should students’ knowledge be assessed? What should an exam look like when students are not only allowed but also encouraged to use AI tools during the exam? Teachers consuled with educators and EduTech visionaries from around the world (USA, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.) to develop the exam tasks. The goal was to assess the knowledge gained during the lectures on the fundamental principles of data protection law and their practical application.
Feedback from students
It was particularly pleasing to see that the students were very positive about the innovations presented by the lecturers. At the end of the course, students were sent a questionnaire asking for their insights into their experiences, perceptions and expectations of using generative AI tools (including the aforementioned “Paul AI” and “Goda AI”) throughout the course. For example, when asked how the generative AI tools helped them to tailor the learning experience to their individual needs and preferences, students reported that it was particularly convenient that whenever they had a question during the lectures, they could get an immediate answer. Thus, if students felt that they did not understand something that was being discussed in a lecture, they could use the AI tools to get a quick clarification without disturbing anyone or interrupting the ongoing discussion.
Students also appreciated that the use of generative DI tools significantly increased their productivity and helped them to combat the worry that tired students might miss important details if they were not paying attention, which would lead to incomplete notes and thus to their inability to answer the lecturers’ questions. According to the students, the introduction of AI tools has opened up new opportunities for critical thinking.
Most students stressed that it was also useful for them to realise the limitations of the AI tools – for example, when lecturers asked a lot of open-ended questions to which there was no right answer, even the AI did not always generate the same answers, which encouraged students to think outside the box and think critically. Students reported that the experience of interacting with the AI tools was very useful – after all, in the age of technology, students need to learn how to work with these tools.
Future prospects for AI knowledge avatars in education
The opportunity to consult with the lecturers’ AI knowledge twins, as well as the freedom to use other AI tools throughout the course, taught some important lessons. In particular, the introduction of an innovation – teachers’ personal avatars of AI knowledge (“Paul AI” and “Goda AI”) – showed that AI can be a meaningful tool to improve the educational experience, providing students with personalised support 24/7 and deep feedback. With the help of their personal avatars of AI knowledge, lecturers can create a more dynamic and interactive learning environment that is more in line with the expectations of today’s technologically empowered students.
In addition, the course highlighted the importance of the balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application. The course made students aware of the importance of their critical thinking in answering questions, even when using AI tools, and of the need to learn some digital literacy skills, which are essential for the fast-changing legal profession.
The experience of lecturers has also revealed the need to experiment and to find positive ways of applying AI tools. The application of the AI knowledge avatars highlighted the need for further dialogue on the implementation of AI in education. While AI tools have great potential, their use also raises important questions about academic integrity, data privacy and the importance of human care. With the rapid development of AI technologies, it is essential to ensure responsible and ethical use of these technologies.
In summary, the experience of the Vilnius University Law Faculty in integrating AI tools into the curriculum is an excellent example of how technology can be used to improve education. By innovating and tackling new challenges, Vilnius University is ushering in a new era of teaching and learning in the age of artificial intelligence.
Information prepared according to articles published in LRT.lt and Linkedin.