Stefan E. Huber is currently conducting his doctoral thesis at the intersection of digital technologies and psychology at the University of Graz. He has a background in computational interdisciplinary modeling and simulation in various domains of natural science (including physics, chemistry, materials science, psychology). His current research focuses on better understanding how learning (in digital environments) is intertwined with the multitude of aspects of the human condition (like emotion, motivation, and social dimensions) from a holistic perspective beyond cognitive information processing.
Co-Authors:
Manuel Ninaus, University of Graz
Will human-AI interaction promote new career paths in game development and education?
FROG 2023 – Talk
How are generative AI co-pilots (like ChatGPT, Google Bard, or GitHub Copilot) related to game development and education? Will generative AI thin out the specialist job market by undermining the practice of human expertise? Or can human-AI interaction give rise to new career paths fueling synergies between the motivational powers of games and long-standing educational needs? In this discussion piece, we will try to find some answers to these questions. By first exploring the transformative potential of generative AI in education, we subsequently highlight risks such as deskilling and diminishing the development of human expertise on which large portions of our modern, highly specialized economy are built. We then argue how a playful approach supporting skill practice and human judgement could remedy those risks. Drawing from well-established insights from game-based learning research and self-determination theory, we arrive at the potential of well-designed educational games to foster a willingness to practice, nurturing domain-specific expertise. However, well-designed games will require equally well-suited developers. The proposed solution hence calls itself for support of a specific type of human expert: professionals capable of transferring highly specialized educational activities into engaging games, placing the development of the human players at the core of their goals. Our view thus opens a new perspective on the career paths of game developers not merely as providers of ever new entertainment meeting the needs of a modern consumer society, but as key players for a sustainable preservation of a central human role in modern education.
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