Taiwanese high school students’ perspectives on artificial intelligence and its applications

The profound impact of AI technology on human life, from daily routines to professional settings, necessitates a corresponding evolution in education, where the content must adapt to the advancements in AI technology. Given high school students' status as digital natives, understanding their perspectives is invaluable for planning suitable lessons and informing policy formulation in education. This study therefore aimed to investigate high school students' knowledge, perceptions, and acceptance of the application of AI in medicine and agriculture. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore students' perspectives. Data were collected from 373 students (aged 15–17), and the results indicated that their understanding of AI was limited: approximately 64 percent of participants could not identify the meaning of ‘AI’. Moreover, students were more reluctant to accept the use of AI in medicine. However, students' acceptance improved significantly when the context of the questions involved humans in AI decision-making. Nonetheless, the analysis showed a positive correlation between students' perceptions of the benefits and acceptance of AI applications in both the agricultural and medical domains. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating discussions on emerging AI technologies into high school science curricula, helping cultivate students' fundamental understanding of emerging technological advancements and knowledge, thereby facilitating societal progress.