DOST Ignites Students' Insights on AI and SciComm

Selected Filipino students across the nation successfully improved their knowledge of artificial intelligence and science communication as they participated in the National Youth Science, Technology, and Innovation Festival at the Forum Tent, Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, last October 25, 2023.

The forum spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with its affiliate institutions, with the theme “AI at SciComm,” aims to increase youth awareness on science and technology—particularly in artificial intelligence—and inspire them to pursue related career opportunities.

In his introductory message, DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute Director Richard P. Burgos commented that the recent rise and prevalence of generative AI platforms would show improvements across multiple aspects of our daily lives but potentially worsen the digital divide in our current world.

On the other hand, Mrs. Avril Adrianne Madrid, Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Development Communication, shared that “What scientists think of… is not what Filipinos think, say… For them, science is abstract but tech is real. We must break the abstractness of science and communicate concretely.”

Later in the forum, Professor Benjamin M. Vallejo Jr. added that as we are currently in the 4th Industrial Revolution where cyber-physical innovations arise, blurring the line between the physical and digital worlds, it is inevitable that artificial intelligence would play a major role in communicating the scientific progresses we make.

Furthermore, Prof. Vallejo stressed the inaccuracies and fallacies that surround artificial intelligence and how to bypass those, whereas Prof. Johnrob Y. Bantang suggested that we should observe proper ethics and apply our human values in using such, underlining the strict application of transparency, responsibility, user focus, and sustainability.

Mr. Rodolfo P. De Guzman, Officer-in-Charge of the Communications Research and Production Division, expressed appreciation to the participating institutions and organizations during the event’s closing remarks while urging the attending students to wield technology responsibly, echoing Dir. Burgos’ quote, “Technology is not necessarily good or evil, it’s a matter of how you use it.”