what's up teachers at this primary
school in China as adults know exactly
when someone isn't paying attention
these headbands measure each student's
level of concentration the information
is then directly sent to the teachers
computer and to parents china has big
plans to become a global leader in
artificial intelligence it has enabled a
cashless economy where people make
purchases with their faces a giant
network of surveillance cameras with
facial recognition helps police monitor
citizens meanwhile some schools offer
glimpses of what the future of high-tech
education in the country might look like
classrooms have robots that analyze
students health and engagement level
students wear uniforms with chips that
track their locations
there are even surveillance cameras that
monitor how often students check their
phones or yawn during classes these
gadgets have alarmed Chinese netizens
[Music]
but schools say it wasn't hard for them
getting parental consent to enroll kids
into what is one of the world's largest
experiments in AI education a program
that's supposed to boost students grades
while also feeding powerful algorithms
Leila there's a pedometer God you enjoy
a factor knowledge or the sheer moment
here
the government has poured billions of
dollars into the project bringing
together tech giant's startups and
schools
we got exclusive access to a primary
school a few hours outside of Shanghai
[Music]
to see firsthand how AI tech is being
used in the classroom for this
fifth-grade class the day begins with
putting on a brainwave sensing gadget
students that practice meditating the
device is made in China and has three
electrodes - behind the ears and one on
the forehead
these sensors pick up electrical signals
sent by neurons in the brain the neural
data is then sent in real-time to the
teachers computer so while students are
solving math problems a teacher can
quickly find out who's paying attention
and who's not major - you Jim
Tashi with Internet's auctioned off a
report is then generated that shows how
well the class was paying attention
it even details each student's
concentration level at 10-minute
intervals it's then sent to a chat group
for parents do the talk how you can kind
of make it in the few things the reports
are detailed but whether these devices
really work and what they exactly
measure isn't as clear we were curious
if the headbands could actually measure
concentration so one of our reporters
tried on the device
this is a new technology with still very
little research behind it Theodore's
Anto is a neuroscientist at the
University of California San Francisco
he was surprised to learn that this type
called electroencephalography also known
as EEG is being used in the classroom on
children it's usually used by doctors in
hospitals and labs and so despite the
chances for false reading teachers told
us the head fans have forced students to
become more disciplined chunko wait ah
what a Wimpy Jorge with hum in this
singing whoa beeping honking sound now
teachers say the students now pay better
attention during class and that has made
them study harder and achieve higher
scores someone's on Team Jon so yeah as
well as even on the Chiquita
but not all students are as enthusiastic
[Music]
this fifth grader who me caught dozing
off in class told us his parents
punished him for low attention scores
and that kind of data adds a new kind of
pressure for students companies we
interviewed said the data can go to
government funded research projects we
spoke to parents who were unclear about
where the data ended up and they didn't
seem to care too much Santos says
there's likely no privacy protection at
all classroom experts and citizens alike
are sounding alarms about various
aspects of the country's huge push into
artificial intelligence these classrooms
are laboratories for future generations
and while these new tools may
potentially help some 200 million
students raise their grades just how
this all works out won't be apparent
until they become adult citizens
[Music]