Students factor AI risk into choice of programs

Kelly Kong

Nearly 85 percent of Diploma of Secondary Education candidates are considering more programs that will not be easily run over by artificial intelligence, while three out of five are worried or confused about the future, a survey has found.

The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed 1,315 secondary five and six students from May 10 to June 24, of whom 513 are DSE candidates who will receive their exam results on July 17, and 802 are secondary five students.

Some 84.6 percent of them said they will choose their university majors based on their interests and AI development within those courses is not their primary consideration.

About two-thirds of them will consider more AI-emerging programs, while 65.8 percent did not know much about AI-related information.

A supervisor of the youth group, Chan Ying-kit, said AI has developed rapidly in recent years and is widely used in all industries, and relevant courses "are full of choices" in universities. Many DSE candidates feel confused when faced with too much information and choices, he said.

"We encourage candidates to seize the golden time and prepare for the future, develop plans and contingency plans for different results to deal with various possible outcomes calmly," Chan added.

The survey also found that the student stress index is similar to last year's survey.

About 41 percent of the DSE candidates said that exam pressure reached the highest level of seven to 10. But secondary five students were more stressed, with 57.6 percent at the highest level of 10.

It comes after the counseling hotline DSE 2777-1112 received 9,312 calls for help in the year to June 26, with students saying they faced stress from family and peers.

Cheng Chun-yau, who sat in this year's DSE exam, said he wanted to choose computer science as his major, as AI lowered the threshold of IT and interior design jobs.

Another candidate, Ng Yan-ning said she would like to study law and pursue a double degree based on her DSE results.

"I am not worried about AI, and it will not affect my university major choice because law is mainly people-oriented and requires critical thinking," Ng said.

Ho Tsz-ying, who wants to study nursing, said she is excited to know more about how AI will affect medicine.

Chan said the administration's "three-tier school-based emergency mechanism," which aims to prevent student suicides, has been very effective.

The mechanism was implemented in December and has been extended until year-end. Chan suggested that the mechanism be regularized.