Do learners even know its AI?
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Introduction
So I am researching what people think about AI avatars as presenters of learning content and can we learn from AI-generated avatars, looking for scholarly work that is recent and that uses a decent version of AI avatars that companies have been producing and I came across one piece of research that made me both laugh and cry.
Research
The research is titled "Student Perceptions of AI-Generated Avatars in Teaching Business Ethics: We Might not be Impressed" and what stood out to me, and I've had some of this in my personal experience, is the lack of awareness of non-instructional cues or elements in the instruction.
What do I mean?
Well, the researchers wanted to know, using a qualitative research design, about students’ perceptions of teaching and learning with AI-generated avatars. Seems reasonable enough, do AI-generated avatars impact a student's perception of learning and do they do so in a positive or negative way. There's been much discussion on LinkedIn and other places related to the impact.
The surprising/not-surprising answer is some students don't even know or pay attention to the fact that it's an AI avatar. They may not care as much as we (designers) care. Here's my wow-moment or, yeah of course moment, from the research.
Sometimes students were unaware that the video content was presented by an AI-generated avatar and assumed the presenter was human, despite the lecturer’s introductory video that explained the design intentions of presenting with an AI avatar, the label ‘AI presenter’ on each video, and other indications throughout the module such as when the AI presenter states that ‘this content has been delivered by me, an AI-generated avatar’.
Bold is my emphasis. The content practically scream "HEY, I AM AI GENERATED." And yet, some students missed that aspect of the delivery completely.
In fact, the researchers reported "One student explained, ‘I guess I didn’t pay full attention when I watched a video, so I didn’t realize that there are differences’. When teachers explained the avatar in workshops, students reported feeling ‘really shocked’. One student said, ‘she just acts so natural, I still can’t believe’ (it was an AI presenter). This was unexpected as the content was intentionally designed to be explicit and transparent about the use of AI." (my emphasis)
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The content explained that it was AI-generated avatars, the videos were labeled and the AI-avatar explained they were AI. Yet, the fact that they are AI generated was still missed.
Wait, this certainly has something to do with the quality of the AI avatars, sure. But it also has to do with the question...what are learners really paying attention to when they watch an instructional video. What cues or clues are they taking from our instruction? Is our design less important than the content or knowledge the learners are seeking?
Now, admittedly, this was a small study. Two focus groups were conducted over Zoom in June 2022, with a total of ten students, of which eight were international students, and half identified as male and half as female. And was qualitative (which some quantitative wonks don't think is a valid research design) but it also resonated and echoes my own experience.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, some people just don't pay attention, just don't follow the instructions, and, in this case, just don't realize it's an AI generated lecturer. In some cases, like in deep fake ads or attempts to influence that can be really bad.
In lectures on ethics, like was the subject of the study, does it even matter that we tell the learners about AI-generated or not. Do they ignore our "warning" and just go a long their merry way consuming any content that's thrown at them for better or worse?
Conclusion
What's your opinion, do learners pay as much attention as we think? We have these intellectual discussions, spend money and time on researching AI avatars vs humans and, at the end of the day, some people still don't pay attention to the indications that our development tools include AI-generated avatars. I find it interesting and a bit disconcerting.
Bio
Karl Kapp is a professor at Commonwealth University (formerly Bloomsburg University). He works globally helping organizations accelerate expertise using an evidence-based approach. He teaches a graduate course on AI and frequently keynotes on the topic. He is passionate about helping others and thus is the co-founder of the L&D Mentor Academy, a members only group that explores the technology, business acumen and concepts required to take L&D professional's careers to the next level. Apply to Join today.
Additionally, Karl is co-founder of Enterprise Game Stack, a serious games company that creates digitized card games for learning ranging from interactive role-play games to sorting activities and everything in-between. Find out more at Enterprise Game Stack.
Learning & Performance Strategist | Competence Development & Assessment Practice Lead at North Pacific | Adjunct Professor at UVIC | RPL/PLAR Consultant | Workplace Learning Expert | Facilitator
3moThis is an interesting research observation, Karl. Attention is a complex process and there are so many factors that influence it. What we do know is that attention is selective. In my experience I have found that more often than not, learners do not take notice of the many, so-called, 'engaging instructional design strategies' we use in training/courses. In this case, where learners didn't pay attention to the fact that an AI avatar was used, perhaps having such high content relevance may be a good thing? It demonstrates that either learners don't care/don't pay attention or that the content of the video aligned so well with what they were seeking to learn or understand, that they didn't get 'distracted' by other things. I suppose just because we use a strategy or even when it is well-designed and called out, doesn't guarantee that learners will notice or appreciate it. And in some ways, it might be better that these strategies stay invisible and appear seamless. But I suppose, if we *need* to, we can try and increase learners' awareness of the strategies or non-instructional cues and elements in instruction in a way that maximizes their engagement and/or comprehension.
Instructional Designer at KPMG
3moThanks for writing this Karl. There’s a lot of angles I we can look at this from. But the simple answer to your question “Do learners pay as much attention as we think?” the answer is “No!” Of course, the age-old questions such as “Is it required?, “Why are they taking the course?” and “When are they applying it?” heavily influence what the answer to your question is.
Process Improvement Management | Leadership Development | Employee Engagement Strategist | MBA
3moDid the study indicate whether learning outcomes and retention were impacted, or just sentiment about the delivery?
Instructional Designer Project Lead - E learning and Gamification
3moSuch a thought provoking article. I feel this depends on the content delivered. Course or content where instructor style and mannerisms makes a difference in helping learners understand the concepts will notice the presence of Ai avatars. .However content where information has to be passed onto learners like an explainer video of a software or tool this may go unnoticed.
Ed Tech Product Lead, Instructional Designer, Researcher
3moThis is a very interesting topic. Thank you for writing about it, Karl, and asking thought-provoking questions. We always say we should strive to give learners an "authentic" learning experience, so, maybe we should applaud the the design where learners do not find the AI Avatar instructors are not real people. My opinion is that the learning objective is always the north star. If the objective is to equip students with certain knowledge, it is the designer/real instructor who needs to take the responsibility to examine any AI-generated content to ensure they are accurate, ethical, and aligned with the learning objective. They should not expect students to do this job by simply telling them the avatar is AI-generated (and "you, learners, be cautious and responsible for yourself"). Ethically, I don't see the disclaimer that the avatar is AI causing any harm. It should always be there whether learners pay attention to it or not. In the case that the avatar intricately interacts with learners (not just as a talking head), the disclaimer may need to be emphasized up-front so that transparency and realistic expectations are established from the very beginning.