Learning goals
During A Message to the Future, you are going to develop your reading and writing skills by reading fiction and non-fiction about AI and studying effective writing strategies. You will also discuss the possible progress or peril that comes with AI, specialising yourself in an area related to your programme.
The main skills that you will improve are reading and writing. You will show your skills by:
Reading comprehension tests (non graded)
Writing an essay
Lessons
Essay: A Message to the Future
You have been invited to participate in a prestigious international summit exploring the future of artificial intelligence. This summit, A Message to the Future: A New Dark Age or a Bright Future?, gathers thinkers, innovators, and students like you to analyse, discuss, and document the impact of AI on society.
As part of this initiative, you will contribute to a time capsule that will be unearthed decades from now. Among the chosen artifacts will be your student essays, capturing today's hopes, warnings, and visions for the future. Those who discover the capsule will look to your words for insight—will they see predictions of a utopia, empowered by AI or a cautionary tale of humanity’s missteps?
When planning your essay, you will have to choose a specific area, perhaps related to your study programme, and create a thesis question. For example:
Arts & Humanities
Commerce & Business
Social Sciences
Natural Sciences
Technology
You will also need to research your thesis question and bring a reliable source with you to the test. You are allowed to summarise your reading into 200 words which you may bring with you when writing the essay. The summit will also distribute material - a selection of articles from international magazines and research – to be read and used alongside your material. After reading the material, decide on ideas, claims, statements, examples or arguments that you wish to discuss in your essay.
Structurally you are expected to present a thesis question, summarise your sources that relate to your thesis question, analyse their implications and finally draw a conclusion. You must refer to at least two sources to receive a passing grade.
Word count: 400-700
Time: 80 minutes
Style: Formal - ensure that you have checked what you have written with regard to appropriateness of language, content and structure
As inspiration, you may want to consider the following thesis questions:
How does AI challenge or enhance human creativity?
Will AI replace human workers or create new job opportunities?
Does AI reinforce or reduce social inequalities?
Should AI be allowed to make life-and-death decisions in medicine?
Should AI-driven facial recognition collect data to improve safety in society?
Grammar: participle clauses
Participle clauses are a way to make sentences more concise and sophisticated by reducing clauses while maintaining meaning.
Learning helps you: write more concise and condensed sentences.