High School Textbooks to Take Up Various Aspects of Generative AI

Tokyo, March 24 (Jiji Press)–Various aspects of generative artificial intelligence are set to be taken up in Japanese high school textbooks that will be used from fiscal 2027. The education ministry said Tuesday that a total of 220 textbooks for 11 subjects mainly to be used by high school second and third graders from the fiscal year starting in April 2027 have passed its second round of screenings conducted under the current curriculum guidelines. Four textbooks failed as they were deemed as inappropriate for grave defects in how they are composed. Many textbooks for information, civics, fine arts and the Japanese language have descriptions about generative AI, including on how the system learns and generates texts, images and other data, and how to use it, as well as issues such as misinformation and disinformation, and copyright infringement. The number of opinions given in the screening process totaled 4,300, down by 3,509 from the previous screening in fiscal 2021. The decrease came as many publishers basically maintained the compositions of their textbooks. Textbooks for eight subjects that all high school students learn have 344 pages on average, little changed from the previous screening. Most have quick response, or QR, codes on them, allowing students to access videos, texts and other educational resources via smartphones and other devices. Of the 13 textbooks for logical Japanese, a selective subject that handles logical and practical texts, six adopted novels as reference materials, up by four from the previous screening. The ministry does not assume students only read and analyze the novels, an official said, adding that including novels in logical Japanese textbooks is fine if they are appropriate as materials for the subject. Some textbooks feature well-known figures such as Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, wheelchair tennis icon Tokito Oda and Takashi Yamazaki, director of Oscar-wining film “Godzilla Minus One.” One textbook looks into how the image of girl warriors has changed, featuring the “Pretty Cure,” or “PreCure,” animation series, while another discusses gender diversity. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]