[Translation : EPALE France]

Choosing your path? Or finding a place?

Anaïs is nearly 18. August usually means vacation. Vacation: this word comes from the Latin “vacare”, meaning to be empty, to have time. To be empty, vacant, entirely dedicated to the moment, you have to be unconcerned about your own situation and the affairs of our shared world. Disconnect and free yourself from uncertainty. And this August is just perfect for it, as my neighbour says! For Anaïs, the holidays are not exactly peaceful. The problem lies with the tertiary education selection process, which has been rather chaotic for her and makes her situation at the start of the new school year uncertain. The goal is to be selected, of course, but where? In what field? Opening and closing which doors? And how can we engage with the algorithms that govern our destinies? We are surrounded by calculations! It's hard to understand, especially as Anaïs sees the situation as an injustice and even a scam (as she puts it). She explains: “Ever since I started secondary school, I've been harassed about my so-called career plan: we think about it, discuss it, get worked up about it, and what do we end up with? It all comes down to marks and places. I'll go wherever I can. That’s it! Making choices. We have to make choices, of course, but freedom of choice is very relative! I'm happy to think about it, but it's really about getting through a training system that talks mainly about studies and not really about work!”

It's not easy to engage in an enlightening or at least reassuring dialogue. When you say: “It's just a difficult time to be going through; don't worry, it'll be fine; we've all been there” you can hear the vanity of such phrases. Anaïs has hit the nail on the head. Listening to her, I was reminded of a very enlightening book by philosopher Claire Marin, “Être à sa place” and her words: “I look for my name on the list. I can see it at last. I'm relieved to be there, to be part of it, to be among those who have won a place. But what contortions it took to get there!”

Choosing one’s path in uncertain times is a matter of finding and (keeping) a place in a training establishment, for a destination that remains uncertain.  “If nothing is certain, everything is possible” says the optimist in me. But that's not very convincing for Anaïs. And the facts are not helpful. Our career paths are obviously linked to the initial options we choose, which are based partly on decisions, partly on constraints. But while these bifurcations are effective, they are not definitive. The path taken will also be influenced by many decisive factors: encounters, experiences, opportunities... But what Anaïs emphasises is the importance we place on the young person making the decision, even though their opinion is not always at the forefront! She also highlights the message she has been hearing for a long time: that we are fully responsible for our choices, which implies that we bear the burden of any difficulties that might arise later on: we should have thought about it first! However, a close look at career paths, particularly those involving retraining, reveals a wide variety of situations and strategies. A study published in February 2023 by France Compétences illustrates this. Once we are out in the world of work, experiencing new situations, we can experience things with confidence and concrete action, decide what suits us best, and get to grips with unfavourable environments. But the essential material is what we actually experience: As Béatrice Delay, coordinator of the study, points out: It’s about “Bringing individuals face to face with the activity of work through experiential support... This immersion is very fertile, and is amplified if the individual is called upon to deconstruct what they have experienced.”  Yet, strangely enough, these inexperienced young people are put under pressure to make supposedly decisive choices, often with anxiety and without a clear vision of the consequences.

So when Anaïs told me that she asked ChatGPT for its opinion, I was not at all surprised. Even though I thought that AI never took sides. Another mystery?

Asking generative AI for advice?

A few days later, on a ferry ride between Les Sablettes and Toulon, Anaïs was chatting with Luc and Bertrand, who had recently passed their high school Baccalaureate. Luc looked at his smartphone and suddenly said to the other two: “Listen to this! According to the latest IPCC projections, the water level is set to rise by 50 centimetres before 2050 as a result of the melting of glaciers and ice caps. This will be a cause for concern for coastal residents. And do you know what? Saint-Mandrier and Six-Fours-les-Plages would become islands. How old will we be in 2050?” 

The boat's passengers also listen, looking amused, incredulous or annoyed. “More killjoys trying to spoil our holidays,” says the woman next to me. “Global warming is just as far-fetched as Covid”, she continues, echoed by a neighbour who in turn rails against the “elites who are manipulating us”. “But we're not fooled!” he concludes, dryly. Public transport is a good indicator of the state of people's minds!

Indifferent to these comments, Luc continues. “You see, no need to worry about where we're going to study! We'll all end up as boat skippers or water diviners! When I see all the trouble we’ve had with Parcoursup!”

“Speak for yourself,” Bertrand interrupts. “It went well for me. My father told me to choose IT; he says it’s the future, there's work to be done and there's money to be made. So I'm starting in September. We'll have to wait and see. I think Data Scientist would suit me just fine.”

Anaïs, who had remained silent, intervenes. “For all we know, nothing we want now will even exist later. So, choosing a path of study is a bit haphazard. Yes, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Bertrand asks Anaïs: “Don’t you know what you want to do later on?”

Anaïs sighs: “Not really, I applied more on the basis of my results and the location. In any case, I didn't get into what I asked for. So I'm going to see what I end up with.  I’ll take it from there. I went for psychology just in case!”

Bertrand insists a little: “Doesn't it worry you not knowing what you're going to do? I asked ChatGPT specifically how to make informed choices and it replied: It's important to set long-term goals. That's what my father used to tell me too. Set a course and stick to it!”

Anaïs answers. “When you asked ChatGPT, it must have also said a little later on...” she consults her phone: “Wait, I've got it!: You will need to be able to adapt quickly to change. Flexible, agile professionals who are always capable of learning will be preferred. You see. Everything is possible because nothing is certain.”

But Bertrand doesn't give up.: “At least with IT we travel less and pollute less. That's the future.”

But Anaïs is quick to reply. “Big Data does nothing more than process masses of data to influence us.  Did you know that streaming spits out 100 million tonnes of CO2 a year and eats up 80% of bandwidth? It's invisible pollution, but it's terrible. It’s not for me.”

Bertrand insists: “Yes, but with generative AI, there will no longer be any need for psychologists. They will be replaced by AI. Faster, cheaper and more reliable!”

“No, that's a whim of the new sorcerer's apprentices; it’s like dreaming of eternal life!”

“So you don't know what you want to do with your life? You have to make the decision now.”

“What do I want to do with my life? Living it would be a good idea, wouldn’t it?” replies Anaïs, laughing.

Luc, who has been silent until now, raises a hand to interrupt them: “Oh, the future is so far away. The future is tonight. So are we going to that concert or not?”

Generative AI: the influencer of the future?

Generative AI might have something to tell us on the matter. The proof! Let’s try to make up our own minds. Young people are sometimes so worried that all resources seem important to test. They do their best to reassure themselves. The stereotypes we have of young people are long gone. But what's surprising is that the dialogue between Bertrand and Anaïs also highlights something else. As it goes through the questions, AI formulates points for attention, not really advice or recommendations. For example, setting long-term goals, but also being ready for all foreseeable developments. What is striking is that people can remain in their own bubble of the way they see the world and find in the text what fits with their views. Having a project or deciding as you go along, or both at the same time. It’s an enlightening metaphor for both at the same time!

In a fascinating article entitled “Face aux artifices de l’IA, comment l’Éducation aux médias peut aider les élèves? (How can media literacy help students to cope with manipulation by AI?),  Divina Frau-Meigs closes with these words: “However intelligent it may claim to be, AI cannot replace the need for students to develop their own critical thinking and creativity, and to learn and inform themselves by mastering their sources and resources.” The question of what is replaceable (who? what? how?) is not a trivial one, and has fuelled controversy around technological change for decades. Certain controversies, which were very heated when certain technologies first appeared, have died down in the face of the power of habit and usage. Few people are really interested in how algorithms contribute to recommendation and social influence: online music, streaming, higher education placements, hotel reservations... few activities, professional or otherwise, escape them. So, once the controversy has died down, will everything be smoothed out, integrated and become routine? Who remembers that today's smartphones are no more than 15 years old? And yet they have profoundly changed our lives. But when we look at the development of the digital economy, particularly that of platforms based on the smartphone, we see the extent to which technological change is transforming more than just usage. It governs entire sectors of the economy. Economist Christophe Degryse concluded an already old article (2017!) with the following observations: “These changes will contribute to the emergence of new modes of production and new business models. These models will, depending on the circumstances, transform the way we work, and even forms of employment. Each transformation will raise the question of the way humans work, the meaning of their work, its quality, but also the obsolescence of certain qualifications and even certain professions.”  

If we dare to draw an analogy between the multiple impacts of the smartphone (some of which were unforeseeable at the time it was designed) and the potential uses generated by generative AI, we can simply show some humility: the potential impacts are considerable, but we have great difficulty tracing the real consequences. They will emerge along the way, but cannot be predicted. They are also linked to the concepts behind them: the diktat of economic growth, the attention economy, the race for speed.  How will all this be combined with consideration (or not) of the consequences of global warming and other disruptions to come? There is nevertheless a symbolic dimension to the debates on “artificial” intelligence. Beyond the real consequences, the question of free will and human decision-making is at stake. Does AI know better than we do what we need to do to lead our lives, individually and collectively?

Deciding with uncertainty? Not just a question of method...

In recent months, much of the debate has focused on pedagogical aspects; the place of students' personal work and the role of the teacher. Until now, digital technology has provided access to resources that required students to research problems, extract data, select sources and organise their arguments. However, generative AI could research problems and arrange arguments in a synthetic perspective, thus replacing an essential part of our contribution. So far, the debate seems to have come full circle with one argument: generative AI does not express points of view. This could lead us to think that it is more useful in the organisation of thought than in making decisions. However, we feel that this formal distinction needs to be discussed. We will come back to this in a future blog article. The discussion with Anaïs and Bertrand is very representative of a necessary and fruitful debate from an educational point of view. We will offer some illustrations, in particular by presenting a “Fruitful Controversies” workshop for audiences questioning their future on the theme of: Deciding with uncertainty. There’s lots to talk about! Because it's about realising that decision-making in a world where uncertainty is the norm is about more than just technical issues. There is no single, duplicable way of making decisions, and there are more and more of them to be made, with multiple personal and collective issues at stake. This has both existential and very personal implications, linked to our own construction of our relationship with the future and with risk. Young people (and the not-so-young too) don’t need advice or guides when they're wondering about their future. What they need is a forum for dialogue on these issues, where they can look at how they go about it, what effect it has on them, and what approach suits them best. In the world that lies ahead, better identifying how each of us can move forward, cope and discover is not just a question of method, but rather of constructing meaning along the way and constantly renewing it. In this respect, generative AI, while helping us to articulate problems, does not yet have the capacity to open and maintain a dialogue in which intersubjectivity has its rightful place. Perhaps this is one of the conditions for a truly personalised approach and a contribution to the concern for equity?

While generative AI is set to revolutionise our world, it is also part of the political and social choices that are opening up vital areas for deliberation. Again in 2017, Christophe Degryse said of the advent of the digital economy: “It is, in our view, the responsibility of society as a whole to ensure that these transformations take place without causing social issues, polarisation or growing inequalities. The history of industrial revolutions shows that social models do not emerge by spontaneous generation, but are the fruit of social relationships. There is no doubt that we are now in a phase of development, which is still slow, confused and difficult, of new social relationships, in the perspective of a digital era conformed to a reinvented social model.”

To conclude the article, I put one last question to the AI: “how should we go about finding our path throughout our life?” The seven proposals received won't upset anyone, and everyone will find something to suit their point of view (including consulting an informed professional!). But we can also make selections from the arguments (and we can already see the process of influence at work!). Point 6 is the one I suggested Anaïs bear in mind: “Experiment and learn from experience.” And by text, I sent her a little message of support in my own way: “George Perec wrote: “To live is to move from one space to another, trying as hard as possible not to bump into anything”.”

                                                       André Chauvet

https://www.editions-observatoire.com/content/Être_à_sa_place

https://www.francecompetences.fr/app/uploads/2022/02/Note-détudes_N4_Reconversion-2.pdf

https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-face-aux-artifices-de-lia-comment-leducation-aux-medias-peut-aider-les-eleves-207166

https://www.cairn.info/revue-reflets-et-perspectives-de-la-vie-economique-2017-3-page-47.htm