Hong Kong | Digital avatars as professors at a university

(Hong Kong) Virtual reality headset on their heads, Hong Kong students follow the course of an Albert Einstein generated by artificial intelligence (AI), a booming technology experimented within their university to bring in new faces to the teaching staff.

Pan Hui, the real professor in charge of the project at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), digitally sends his students above the clouds, where an avatar of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist teaches them game theory.

According to Mr. Hui, AI can help teachers affected by a global shortage of staff.

“AI-generated teachers can provide diversity (…) and even immersive storytelling,” explains Mr. Hui.

The spread of tools like ChatGPT has sparked a wave of optimism about possible leaps in productivity and teaching, but also fears of cheating, plagiarism or replacement of teachers.

In its “Social Networks for Creatives” course, digital teachers discuss with 30 students questions relating to immersive technologies and the impact of digital platforms.

Once the training content has been entered into a program, the lecturers are generated electronically. Their appearance, voice and gestures are customizable. They can then appear on a screen or through virtual reality (VR) headsets.

The course is hybrid, since Mr. Hui also intervenes with his students. According to him, AI frees teachers from the “painful” aspects of their work.

For doctoral student Lerry Yang, who works on the metaverse, this mixture of real and virtual universes via high-tech glasses and headsets, the personalization of virtual lecturers constitutes their primary advantage since it improves learning.

If a digital teacher “makes me mentally more receptive or seems more approachable and friendly, it erases the feeling of distance between me and the teacher,” she observes.

” Everyone does it “

Education professionals around the world are faced with the growing use of AI. Some decide to limit its use or try to reliably identify plagiarism.

Although initially hesitant, most Hong Kong universities last year authorized their students to use it under varying conditions.

Within his establishment, Mr. Hui carries out experiments with avatars of different genders and ethnic origins, or resembling famous figures from the academic world such as the economist John Nash or Albert Einstein.

“So far, the most popular type of (AI-generated) teachers are beautiful young women,” says Hui.

Japanese cartoon characters, also experienced, were not unanimously accepted, relates doctoral student Christie Pang, who collaborates with Mr. Hui.

“Some students felt like they couldn’t trust what” the digital avatar was saying, she says.

For Pan Hui, the reliability of AI teachers could in the future exceed that of their human colleagues. But it is preferable for the two types of teachers to coexist, he judges.

At present, this technology is still far from posing a serious threat to the teaching profession. Avatars cannot interact with students and, like all AI-powered content generators, they can offer false or even strange responses – what some call “hallucinations”.

Cecilia Chan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, surveyed more than 400 students last year: a majority of them said they preferred teachers in the flesh.

“(Students) still prefer to talk to a real person because a real teacher can share their experience, give feedback and show empathy,” describes M^me Chan, whose work focuses on AI and education.

“Would you rather hear a ‘well done’ from a computer?” », asks the researcher.

However, students are already using AI-based tools to help them with their learning, explains M^me Chan, according to whom “everyone does it”.

At the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Yang, a student of Mr. Hui, confirms: “We simply cannot go against the development of this technology.”