The online survey was conducted by Samsung Electronics Baltics in August 2024, in cooperation with research agency "Norstat" and involved 930 students aged 15 to 19.
According to young people, artificial intelligence is most useful in learning technology, natural sciences and languages. 60% of young people believe that AI skills will be necessary in all future professions, while a fifth would even trust it to choose their future profession for them.
72% of surveyed young people aged 15 to 19 believe that artificial intelligence (AI) skills should be learned at school. On the other hand, 19% of young people believe that it is not necessary to learn about artificial intelligence at school, while 9% had no clear opinion on the matter.
Young people find AI solutions most useful in school when learning technology-related subjects, such as engineering, computer science or design and technology lessons (52%). Meanwhile, 41% see the role of AI in language learning – both Latvian and foreign languages.
In addition, 39% of young people believe that AI can be useful for learning natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, geography), while 36% believe that it can help to understand mathematics better.
Unsurprisingly young people see the least important role of AI in sports and health education – only 8% of respondents see its usefulness in these subjects.
Almost a quarter or 24% of the surveyed school-aged youth stated that their schools already use AI solutions in the learning process, while more than half - 52% - say that the school has not implemented these solutions in the learning process.
"Basic knowledge of the operating principles of AI is already being learned in the in-depth study course of general secondary education "Programming II". As part of the course, young people look at different machine learning algorithms and compare them in action, solving tasks set by themselves," said Mihails Korčevskis of the Evaluation and Analytics Department of the State Educational Content Center.
"At the same time, along with theoretical knowledge, in today's conditions it is important to develop the ability to think critically and recognize the content generated by AI tools, as well as to use it responsibly and ethically. After the rapid increase in popularity of AI tools experienced at the end of 2022, several directions for further action have been outlined, industry specialists have begun to study the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of AI. At the stage of secondary education, it is important to provide young people with basic knowledge in the wide range of possibilities of AI, while at the same time reminding them that the "inside" of AI tools are only numbers and they will never fully replace a live teacher," said Korčevskis.
The survey dubbed "Solve for Tomorrow" is part of a wider program in more than 30 countries around the world that promotes self-education of students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Partners in Latvia are the Latvian Safer Internet Center, Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association, Latvian Information Technology Cluster, Riga Business School, AI Studio, Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development, State Education and Content Center, Agency for International Youth Programs, the portal "Labs Of Latvia" and the office of the European Parliament in Latvia.
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