A survey of youth 14-18 finds that they are interested in working with emerging technology, but feel unprepared to do so. As a response, IBM has launched three new AI-focused online tools to teach young people about the future of artificial intelligence. IBM's study of the cohort in 13 countries found that 68% of them think that AI will have a major impact on their lives, but half of that number (34%) said they don't feel properly equipped to use the technology that will make a large difference in their futures. "As a company bringing advanced technologies into the marketplace, we have a deep responsibility to ensure that learners have the skills required to participate in the digital economy," IBM said in its announcement of the new educational tools. More than half, 56%, of young people surveyed said they were interested in tech careers, and 60% of those were interested in emerging tech areas like cybersecurity and the cloud. When it comes to any one area of interest, AI dominates with 59% wanting to learn more about it.

I recently had the pleasure of being invited to speak at The Item Conference http://www.item.nu/cgi-oic/pagedb.exe/show?no 1 in London for educators, policy-makers and head-teachers visiting our amazing City for inspiration and knowledge about how to foster creativity in children with I. T. They were particularly interested in the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. So, with thinking cap on, and just a few short hours to prepare, I was thrilled to find out that A.I in education is not the work of science fiction, but is with us right now -- in action, and starting to build impact. For hundreds of years, humans have pondered the idea of building intelligent machines. Over this time, artificial intelligence has had highs and lows, demonstrated successes and unfulfilled potential. Today, the news is filled with the application of AI and machine learning to new problems.

Welcome to the first entry in our "Innovations for Educators" series, spotlighting interesting technologies that have the potential to amplify and complement the work done by educators. Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us. From self-driving cars to voice and facial recognition technologies to computers that can compose music, AI stands to offer unprecedented convenience in our personal lives. At the same time, AI is also transforming the world of work. From helping lawyers scan hundreds of documents and predicting which are the most useful to a case, to helping doctors analyze massive amounts of data to develop treatment plans for patients, AI can perform in seconds tasks that would normally take hours of human effort.

IBM's famous AI system has accomplished many, many things these past years, from making movie trailers to saving a person's life. Now, it's also helping teachers make lesson plans by powering Teacher Advisor, a program IBM developed with the American Federation of Teachers. If you're thinking "How hard could a grade school lesson plan be?" Well, have you seen Common Core mathematics? It's not the same math from back in the day, and teachers who didn't grow up with it might have a tough time conjuring up a way to make it more understandable.

Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft have announced they are forming a non-for-profit organisation to educate the public about artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, as well as alleviate anxieties around its application. The collective, which includes Google's AI subsidiary DeepMind, also plans to develop best practices on the challenges and opportunities within the field of AI. The organisation, called Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society (Partnership on AI), will address legal and ethical challenges that AI presents, encourage public discourse, and identify opportunities to use AI to bring improvements to society. The organisation does not intend to be a regulatory body, with a statement saying it does "not intend to lobby government or other policymaking bodies." Members of the partnership will conduct research, recommend best practices, and publish research under an open license in areas such as ethics, fairness, and inclusivity; transparency, privacy, and interoperability; collaboration between people and AI systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability, and robustness of the technology.

A look at IBM's Teacher Advisor tool, powered by Watson. The new-age approach to mathematics is drastically different to what most parents were taught during their own early education experience, and as such it's created a major pain point in nightly homework routines across America. But with a new initiative involving IBM's cognitive computing platform Watson, elementary math lessons could become easier for students, teachers and even parents. Over the last two years, the IBM Foundation has teamed with teachers and the American Federation of Teachers union to create an AI-based lesson plan tool called Teacher Advisor. The program essentially uses Watson's cognitive smarts to answer questions from educators and help them build personalized lesson plans, understand concepts and learn strategies to improve student comprehension.

IBM's famous supercomputer has accomplished many, many things these past years, from making movie trailers to saving a person's life. Now, it's also helping teachers make lesson plans by powering Teacher Advisor, a program IBM developed with the American Federation of Teachers. If you're thinking "How hard could a grade school lesson plan be?" Well, have you seen Common Core mathematics? It's not the same math from back in the day, and teachers who didn't grow up with it might have a tough time conjuring up a way to make it more understandable.