AI adoption will form part of learning provider’s strategic framework but any integration will be measured.
NEBOSH will approach AI adoption with “clear intent’ and “within the context of our overall strategy”, according to its Chief Executive.
NEBOSH CEO Andy Shenstone speaking to Mark Glover on SHP’s podcast
Speaking on the The Safety Conversation podcast, Andy Shenstone tackled the subject while discussing NEBOSH’s three-year strategy. “What I want us [NEBOSH) to do is approach how we think about AI with clear intent and also within the context of our overall strategy,” he told SHP editor Mark Glover.
Launched in April this year the strategy is formed around a framework of seven ‘building blocks’ including People and Culture; IT-Enabled Business Transformation; and Ethical Practice which seeks to “Continue our zero-tolerance approach to malpractice and maintain our reputation for integrity”.
NEBOSH’s reputation continues to foster healthy numbers with recent statistics revealing 63,000 individuals from 159 countries earned qualifications during 2022-2023.
However, training providers are increasingly coming under threat from a technology that can, in theory, crate non-assessment (coursework) output at the click of a few sentences. A lack of regulation compounds the issue for a technology scaling at pace.
Shenstone illustrated the technology’s ubiquity by citing Microsoft’s own AI tool, Co-Pilot, now present across its applications. “That’s fine,” Shenstone says, “as it’s in a controlled environment but there are other packages out there and they provide a different risk profile that you might not want to engage with. There are ‘bad actors’ who would look to undermine the integrity of our awards.
“This is a problem all awarding organisations face and the advent of AI does mean that some forms of assessment that perhaps previously were valid now come under threat. We’re very alert to that; we are always looking at alternative means of assessing.”
Crucially the real test of any health and safety qualification is its application in a working environment. Anything less than robust, watertight learning could potentially put that workforce at risk, a factor NEBOSH is very aware of. “Our critical criteria is not just the validity of that [learning] experience but the applicability of that individual to take that learning safely into the workplace,” Shenstone cautions.
He says AI adoption, like any new technology, should be done for the right reasons with a clear plan. “Get rid of the hype and let’s just make some incremental changes and test it, pilot it and make sure it works before we move on.”
