还在犹豫，觉得AI人工智能和你没有关系?无论你喜欢不喜欢；接受不接受，2025年，新加坡和中国大陆的小学生学习AI的趋势锐不可挡；韩国则将AI数字教科书定为”教育资料”。
从 2025 年开始，新加坡信息通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 将为小学提供两个新的 5 小时“AI for Fun”（趣味AI）模块。这些模块侧重于两个方面：
1.生成式 AI：向学生传授可以生成内容（例如文本或图像）的 AI 模型。
2.智能机器人 AI：操作使用 AI 通过传感器输入的机器人。
中国教育部加强中小学人工智能教育，指出针对个别学习阶段的方针：
- 小学低年级段应侧重感知和体验人工智能技术。
- 小学高年级和初中阶段侧重理解和应用人工智能技术。
- 高中阶段侧重项目创作和前沿应用。
并且强调：在实施人工智能教育时，要注意培养解决实际问题的能力。也就是说，对于过往只靠死记硬背，刷考题得高分的应试教育实施大刀阔斧的改革。
2024年我应邀在线上和现场进行了18场讲座。虽然不如2022年的23场讲座频繁，但是2022年还值新冠疫情期间，大部分的演讲在线上，不觉得行旅奔波。2024年的讲座，除了谈新书《第一次遇见苏东坡》，最多的话题，围绕《AIGC文图学：人类3.0时代的生产力》一书，如何因应AIGC(AI Generated Content 人工智能生成内容)的飞速发展，掌握新技术，调整新方向。我在书中预言：AI素养将成为必备课程，果然。
这不仅是为国民教育增加一门合乎时代需求的新课程和新技能，而是从基础认识人类与非人类/机器、科技文明，以及反观当前社会生活的自动化、物质化和资源差异化。这些现象，在韩国的AI热潮尤其鲜明。
新加坡和中国的小学生是“学AI”；韩国的小学生是“用AI学”。
极力推动AI数字教科书的韩国执政党，计划从2025年春季开始，小学三、四年级，以及初一和高一的学生将使用包含AI功能的数学、英语和信息科技教科书。此后，每年将逐步扩大应用科目和年级，2026年将课程扩大至国语、社会、科学等科目；2027年纳入历史课；2028年完成除体育、音乐、美术等实践课程外的全部科目。
AI数字教科书可以实时监测学生的学习水平和进度，以图像影音等多媒体的内容辅助理解，互动式提供个性化教学。通过分析学生的接受情况，AI可以为学习能力较弱的学生提供简易课程，为学习能力较强的学生提供深入的教学内容。如此一来，或许就达到“因材施教”的目的。
为了实践普及AI数字教科书，除了设计课程内容程式，便捷的互联网设施和电脑设备不可或缺，政府和民间都必须投入巨额的资本和庞大的人力，尤其必须培训能够掌握运用新的教学方式的老师。
为此，也有韩国的学者征询我的意见。我想，AI数字教科书似乎是取代纸质书的学习媒介情形；也似乎是“AI比人类老师更懂我”的情感转移替代问题，其实往深了想，是对国民教育本质的思考—我们希望培养怎样的国民？
许多韩国家长激烈反对AI数字教科书，认为孩子从小接触的是机器，产生依赖AI的习惯和心理，容易导致对人的认知偏差。毕竟，学校教的不只是课程知识和准确的答题，健全的心智品格体现在日常待人接物的行为，难道，我们要AI教我们的下一代如何做人吗？
最终，韩国国会通过由校长决定学校是否及如何采纳AI数字教科书，混乱没有结束。
我曾经一再说：“在你还没有被AI取代之前，你可能会被懂得AI的人取代。”当新生代从小学就学习AI，离开校园的成年人，怎么置身事外，继续像头埋进沙土里的鸵鸟，不闻不问？浑水摸鱼到大浪迎面席卷而来，狂潮平复之际，才惊觉无一技在身，如衣不蔽体。
2025年，也许也是你的AI元年。
2025年1月4日,新加坡《联合早报》“上善若水”专栏
2025, The First Year of AI for Primary School Students
I Lo-fen
Still hesitating, thinking that AI has nothing to do with you? Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, in 2025, the trend of AI education for primary school students in Singapore and mainland China is unstoppable. Meanwhile, South Korea has designated AI digital textbooks as “educational materials.”
Starting in 2025, Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will introduce two new 5-hour “AI for Fun” modules for primary schools, focusing on two areas:
- Generative AI – Teaching students about AI models that generate content, such as text or images.
- Intelligent Robotics AI – Hands-on operation of robots that use AI and sensor inputs.
China’s Ministry of Education is also strengthening AI education in primary and secondary schools, setting specific guidelines for different learning stages:
- Lower primary grades should focus on perceiving and experiencing AI technology.
- Upper primary and middle school students should focus on understanding and applying AI technology.
- High school students should focus on project creation and cutting-edge applications.
Additionally, China emphasizes that AI education must cultivate problem-solving skills, signaling a major reform in an education system that previously relied on rote memorization and test drills to achieve high scores.
In 2024, I was invited to give 18 lectures, fewer than the 23 I delivered in 2022. However, 2022 was during the pandemic, with most lectures conducted online, so I did not feel the exhaustion of traveling. In 2024, beyond discussing my new book The First Time I Met Su Dongpo, the most frequent topic was how to navigate the rapid development of AI-Generated Content (AIGC) and adapt to new technologies and directions, based on my book AIGC Text and Image Studies: The Productivity of the Human 3.0 Era. In this book, I predicted that AI literacy would become an essential subject—and this has now come true.
This shift is not just about adding a new course or skill to national education; it is about fundamentally understanding the relationship between humans and machines, examining technological civilization, and reflecting on automation, materialism, and resource disparity in today’s society. This phenomenon is particularly evident in South Korea’s AI craze.
Singapore and China “Learn AI”; South Korea “Learns with AI”
In Singapore and China, students are learning AI; in South Korea, students are learning with AI.
The South Korean ruling party, which strongly advocates AI digital textbooks, plans to introduce them for 3rd and 4th graders, as well as 7th and 10th graders, starting in spring 2025. Each year, more subjects and grades will be incorporated:
- 2026: Expansion to Korean language, social studies, and science.
- 2027: Inclusion of history.
- 2028: Full integration across all subjects, except for hands-on courses like physical education, music, and fine arts.
AI digital textbooks can monitor students’ learning progress in real time, use multimedia content to aid comprehension, and offer interactive, personalized instruction. By analyzing students’ abilities, AI can provide simplified courses for those struggling and advanced content for high achievers, potentially achieving “personalized education.”
To implement AI digital textbooks, not only must curricula and software be designed, but fast internet and computer access must be ensured. Both the government and private sector must invest heavily in funding, infrastructure, and teacher training to equip educators with the necessary skills to use AI in teaching.
What Kind of Citizens Do We Want to Cultivate?
Some South Korean scholars have sought my opinion on AI digital textbooks. My thoughts?
- This shift seems to be a replacement of paper books with a new learning medium.
- It also raises a deeper question: “Does AI understand me better than a human teacher?”
- More fundamentally, it forces us to reflect on the essence of national education—what kind of citizens do we want to cultivate?
Many South Korean parents strongly oppose AI digital textbooks, fearing that children will become overly dependent on machines and develop cognitive biases in human relationships. After all, schools teach more than just academic knowledge and correct answers—a well-rounded character is shaped through daily interactions with people. Should AI be responsible for teaching the next generation how to be human?
Ultimately, the South Korean National Assembly decided to let school principals determine whether and how to adopt AI digital textbooks, but debates and uncertainties remain unresolved.
2025: Your AI Year?
I have often said, “Before AI replaces you, someone who understands AI might replace you first.”
When the younger generation starts learning AI in primary school, how can adults who have left the classroom afford to ignore it? Pretending AI doesn’t exist, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, will only leave you unprepared when the waves of change crash down. When the tide recedes, those without AI skills may find themselves completely exposed—like being left with nothing to wear.
2025 may also be your AI year.
Published on January 4, 2025, in Lianhe Zaobao’s “Shang Shan Ruo Shui” Column