Is it enough to just ask AI well?…Google and ITU to provide 100,000 education support

▲ Photo: AI-generated image

There are instances where you ask an AI to draft an email, but the phrasing is excessively rigid, or you summarize meeting content, and crucial conditions are omitted. While entering a question is simple, to effectively utilize the results in actual work, one needs to know what to request and where to verify. The large-scale online education support promoted by Google and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a move to expand these utilization capabilities.

According to ITU's official announcement on September 22nd, Google and ITU have decided to provide 100,000 scholarship supports for online certificate courses through the 'AI for Good Skills Coalition'. This initiative will be carried out in cooperation with national governments to support ITU and UNICEF's 'Giga' project.

The scope of education is not limited to AI. The ITU Academy guide includes data analytics, cybersecurity, information technology, project management, digital marketing, and user experience design. Participating countries will determine priority beneficiaries such as civil servants, teachers, students, and job seekers based on their national education goals.

What domestic readers should first distinguish is the application structure. This announcement targets countries that have participated in or expressed interest in the Giga project. National representatives submit their intent to participate, and participating countries are responsible for recruiting and selecting learners. It has not been announced that individuals worldwide can immediately receive free course vouchers with the same application form.

According to the official guide, the application period for national representatives is from September 21st to October 21st, and the announcement of selected governments is scheduled for October 28th. As of September 23rd, no separate recruitment channel or Korean language course conditions for South Korean individuals could be confirmed. Therefore, it should not be interpreted as 'anyone in South Korea can apply for free'.

So, what kind of AI education do general users need? A noteworthy example is the educational design of 'AI Essentials' released by Google in 2024. At that time, Google presented five areas: AI fundamentals, work productivity, effective prompt writing, responsible use, and adapting to technological change. It also included practical exercises to evaluate content before sharing the results. This is an example of an existing curriculum structure, and it does not mean that all courses in this scholarship support will offer the same content.

When applied to daily life, the practice method is specific. For example, to the request 'Summarize this text,' you can add the reader and purpose, instructing, 'For a colleague reading this for the first time, distinguish the three key decisions and the items yet to be decided.' After receiving the answer, compare it with the original text to check if any dates, responsible parties, or conditions are missing. This involves learning to both refine questions and review results.

The criteria for judging learning effectiveness should not be limited to the length of the output or the fluidity of the sentences. One could consider choosing a repetitive task and recording the time taken and the number of revisions before and after using AI. If a draft was produced quickly but fact-checking and rewriting took more time, it might be necessary to re-evaluate the working method.

This support is significant in that it expands opportunities to learn AI and digital technologies. However, obtaining a certificate itself does not guarantee an improvement in work skills. The ability to read AI-generated answers, identify missing context, and modify them to suit one's purpose is the true criterion for practical application skills.