LEAVING CERT EXAMINERS are offering a €100,000 contract to researchers who are able to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to correct exam papers in the future.

The State Examinations Commission are looking for researchers to study “the use of generative AI in the context of teacher-based and external central assessment for high-states certification of achievements”.

In its advert, the commission specifically states that researchers should undergo their studies in the context of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment – which refers to the new, sweeping updates that are being made to the leaving certificate curriculums.

Generative AI is technology that creates something new based on a prompt given to it by a user. The most-popular example of this technology is the US-owned ChatGPT by OpenAI.

Under the new curriculums, some subjects will include a teacher-based assessment, such as a number of prescribed essays, as well as a final exam. In theory, it will give students the opportunity to earn a large number of marks before sitting a written exam.

Researchers will be given one year to carry out their study into how the technology can be used, beginning with desk research and later active research. A final report should then be furnished for the State Examination Commission, along with examples.

The report should answer four questions such as how the technology is currently being used as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with AI.

Using AI to complete corrections may cut back on the time between students sitting the final exam and receiving their results. There have been continuous delays in the issuing of results for both the senior and junior cycle exams since the pandemic.

These delays have largely been attributed to a shortage in examiners, who may be required to take on additional workloads and correct dozens of exam papers across both curriculums as a result.

Additionally, the State Examinations Commission is also requesting that researchers explore any potential legal or regulatory issues associated with the technology’s use to correct papers or whether it will result in any academic integrity issues.

Government previously cited the use of AI when looking to remove the teacher-based assessments from classrooms completely, claiming that students had access to the technology which gave them the opportunity to generate their answers.

This move was met with mixed reactions, with some teachers claiming that AI was not an issue that the examiners needed to be concerned about.