00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11 Welcome to The Verdict on the Street,
00:13 the show that listens to its audience.
00:15 Some of the hottest topics out onto the streets of Britain
00:20 to ask you what you think of them.
00:24 In a world that seems full of experts,
00:26 sometimes it's the opinions of the people on the street
00:29 that really matter.
00:30 So, great British public, it's over to you.
00:34 We send our reporters out into a number of cities across the UK,
00:38 armed only with a camera and a microphone
00:40 to ask simply, what do you think?
00:42 On this week's agenda, we're asking,
00:49 should mobile phones be banned from school classrooms?
00:53 Would you let artificial intelligence
00:55 take over your job?
00:57 And on a lighter note, what annoys you most
00:59 about your partner?
01:00 So let's dive in and go straight back to school,
01:06 because the Education Minister Gillian Keegan
01:08 has pitched a policy to remove mobile phones from schools.
01:12 New guidance from the Department of Education
01:14 will back headteachers in banning mobile phone use
01:16 throughout the school day, including at break times
01:19 to tackle disruptive behaviour and online bullying
01:22 while boosting attention during lessons.
01:25 However, a teaching union leader has now
01:27 warned that introducing a blanket ban on pupils
01:29 using mobile phones in schools across England
01:32 is unenforceable.
01:34 As it stands, headteachers already
01:35 have the power to ban phones at their schools.
01:37 However, as it is up to the subjective decision of heads,
01:40 each school has different sets of rules.
01:43 While some may ask pupils to hand in their phones
01:46 at the start of the day, others might
01:47 let them keep them in their bags during lessons
01:49 and use them during breaks.
01:52 It's an idea that might be popular with many parents
01:54 and teachers, but what do you think?
01:56 I understand that in the classrooms,
02:02 because fair enough, if you're not listening,
02:03 you're on your phone and you're not listening.
02:06 But I don't agree with them saying
02:08 no phones in the school at all.
02:10 Our school had tried to do that at one point,
02:11 and it just never worked.
02:12 People need their phone at lunches to do whatever,
02:14 and then their way home, their way there.
02:17 I think you can look at it two ways.
02:19 Obviously, kids are on it way too much as a TikTok
02:22 and whatnot.
02:23 But at the same time, if you've got a child that
02:25 might be a bit more nervous, they might need their phone.
02:29 So make sure they can text their parents when they're going home.
02:32 If they're catching a bus home, make sure they've got the bus.
02:35 But at the same time, they need to be learning in school.
02:38 So yeah, I understand why they would be banned
02:40 if they were distracted.
02:42 A recent survey by U Switch conducted last year
02:45 found that the average UK adult will spend a whopping five
02:48 hours using various screens, including phones, TVs, laptops,
02:53 and tablets.
02:54 That's in addition to screen time related to work.
02:57 When it comes to our children, screen time can be useful,
03:00 if spent wisely, of course.
03:02 But do devices distract kids when they should be learning?
03:05 And what do you do to encourage your little ones
03:07 to put down their tech?
03:09 100%.
03:10 There are a lot, a lot of research about--
03:15 it's quite complicated to say in English,
03:18 but it's just not good for the kids.
03:20 Because if you expose the kids to the screen,
03:24 then in the long term, they are going to struggle
03:26 to focus in something else.
03:29 And there are so many researches about how unhealthy
03:33 it is for kids--
03:35 actually, for everyone.
03:36 But especially in kids who they are developing the brain
03:39 and things like that, it's not healthy.
03:42 I think maybe giving them that forced respite
03:44 will do them good, actually.
03:46 I think that's probably a very good idea.
03:47 I never had them at school.
03:48 It didn't do me any harm.
03:50 I think it would liberate them a lot more than they
03:53 think it will damage them.
03:55 Definitely, yes.
03:58 I work in education.
03:59 I'm a teacher.
04:00 And it's too disruptive.
04:03 Every time there's a change in class, in the lesson,
04:05 from one exercise to the other, they grab their phones.
04:08 And they're occupied with that instead
04:10 of what they should be learning.
04:12 Do you not think they can be quite useful, perhaps?
04:14 Sometimes, but I think that's only 10% of the time.
04:18 I'm doing my master's in education.
04:20 So this is one of the topics we've
04:21 been studying a lot in class.
04:24 So I believe that students should have the right
04:27 to bring their phones to school, but with certain kind
04:32 of guarantee from the teachers.
04:35 They should limit the students the length
04:38 of the use time of their phones.
04:40 And I think most of the time, nowadays,
04:44 with technology development, I think
04:47 people are-- sometimes teachers want students
04:50 to use these kind of phones to check or some Google
04:54 some stuff.
04:55 Maybe they can offer students iPads at school,
04:59 which can bring them opportunity to find the knowledge.
05:02 Now we cast our thoughts to the future,
05:07 because during a recent conversation with Prime
05:09 Minister Rishi Sunak, tech billionaire Elon Musk
05:12 said that artificial intelligence
05:13 has the potential to become the most
05:15 disruptive force in history.
05:17 He went on to say that it could even eventually put everyone
05:20 out of a job.
05:21 Mr. Sunak conceded the risk of AI destroying jobs
05:24 was causing anxiety, but said that Britain should look
05:27 at the new tech as a co-pilot.
05:30 So do you fancy an autopilot or a co-pilot,
05:33 or are you just keeping your feet on the ground?
05:35 I would not be happy if AI took my job, to be honest,
05:41 because at the end of the day, we push ourselves
05:44 through these education systems to get
05:46 a job that can sustain us and take us
05:49 to the next level in our life.
05:51 Why are we going to let AI let it succumb to that?
05:54 Do you know what I mean?
05:55 What would you do, if you didn't go to work?
05:57 No, I mean, you have to go to work, do you, son.
05:59 Even if it's not the best job in the world,
06:02 you still have to-- well, you don't have to do it,
06:04 but it gets you to this.
06:05 It's as simple as that.
06:06 The more we go into AI, I think the more we
06:09 are going to be putting people out of jobs.
06:13 But another thing is, I tend to wonder,
06:15 if we carry on and carry on on AI,
06:19 is AI soon going to take over and rule?
06:22 In a recent survey conducted by YouGov,
06:24 six in 10 people were found to expect more jobs will
06:27 be lost to robotics and AI than will
06:29 be created in the near future.
06:31 Among workers themselves, 62% expect more jobs
06:34 to be lost than gained.
06:36 Yet when they're asked whether jobs like their own
06:38 will primarily be done by humans or by robots or AI
06:41 30 years from now, the majority still see a human future.
06:45 Here's what some of you lot think.
06:47 AI take over if I didn't have to work.
06:50 I think no.
06:51 It all sounds very tempting.
06:53 But I think I've been a teacher, and I've
06:55 had a very satisfying career.
06:57 And I wouldn't have wanted to miss that by a robot.
07:01 Because I studied mechatronics engineering at a university.
07:05 And there's like--
07:06 I'm in the automation stream, but there's the AI stream
07:08 as well.
07:10 Yeah, I mean, obviously, ChatGPT
07:12 is like the really big AI platform that's
07:14 being spoken about at the moment.
07:16 I think it's good for efficiency,
07:18 but I also think it does impact students' learning
07:20 in the best-- like over-reliant.
07:23 So I think, yeah, like automation for sure
07:26 is a positive thing in the workplace.
07:29 But AI, yeah, like does have a lot of positives,
07:32 but also does need to be controlled so that it doesn't--
07:36 we don't become too over-reliant.
07:39 When I retired, there used to be 10 people working
07:41 in our office when I first started.
07:43 This is going back 30 years ago.
07:46 And as internet came, so a few people left.
07:51 And we kept getting new programs.
07:53 And when I left, only two people worked in that office.
07:57 So the machines that they brought in
07:59 did a hell of a lot of the work, which is really scary.
08:02 In the future, yeah, if AI can take some of those job roles,
08:05 as long as people are properly supported,
08:07 and the government reacts and legislates appropriately
08:09 for AI, then I think, yeah, it could
08:11 be really positive in the workplace,
08:12 and maybe taking some of those job roles as well.
08:16 I've used chat GPT before.
08:18 I think everyone has.
08:20 But like, I don't think--
08:22 I don't know.
08:23 I think it's negative because it's not--
08:25 it's just like a computer.
08:27 Yeah, I think it comes in handy for things
08:28 like little questions.
08:30 But then I think it's like it could go weird,
08:34 because I think there's a sense of it that's like people aren't
08:37 really thinking for themselves anymore.
08:39 And of course, if you lose your job
08:44 to some artificial intelligent robot,
08:46 you're going to have to spend a lot more time with your partner.
08:49 But have you spared a thought to consider how
08:52 annoying is that going to be?
08:55 Oh, my partner.
08:57 She's always late to everything.
08:59 Everything.
09:00 If I say 11 o'clock, she'll be there at half 11.
09:03 So I have to lie to her a lot.
09:04 So if we have dinner at 7, I have to say it's half 6.
09:07 Always late.
09:08 Always.
09:08 Guaranteed that.
09:09 100% of the time.
09:11 But I'm used to it now.
09:12 And my family know me for being very on time.
09:14 Like I could say 11 or 3, and I'd be there at 11 or 3.
09:18 So when they know I'm not there, they're like, it's the missus.
09:22 I struggle to think what would annoy me most about her.
09:25 I'm actually bound for her birthday, so that's annoying.
09:28 Because it's cold.
09:30 So that's better.
09:31 And an hour later, you're gone.
09:33 If you can hear.
09:35 Do you know when people are seated and you can hear them?
09:39 Now, seeing on the television, it
09:41 means you've got something to be the noise.
09:43 It's cold, something.
09:44 I must have it.
09:46 Most annoying things.
09:48 I think the most annoying thing is that she
09:54 speaks Swedish on a Tuesday.
09:57 The kids can't understand her.
09:59 I can't understand her.
10:01 We don't know what the hell she's on about.
10:04 But I think it's the side effects of a tiny operation
10:07 that she had.
10:08 And I didn't think I'd ever be, but I'm the recycling
10:10 guy in the house.
10:11 I do all the recycling.
10:12 And it's when I go into the cardboard bin
10:14 and I see metal in there and things.
10:16 And if they refuse to pick it up one week,
10:18 this house is going to be in turmoil.
10:20 It's recycling.
10:21 And yet, my wife, yes, always just puts whatever in whatever
10:26 bin and things there.
10:27 But they're just the little things.
10:29 There's no big things.
10:30 A lot of things.
10:31 [LAUGHS]
10:32 To be fair.
10:35 I can't really put my finger on any at the minute.
10:39 He's stubborn.
10:41 Yeah, stubborn.
10:42 The most annoying thing that my wife does
10:44 is assume what I'm going to say halfway through the sentence
10:47 and start reacting to it when I haven't even finished speaking.
10:50 Because I tend to pause.
10:52 And that drives me absolutely potty.
10:55 How long have you got?
10:57 Right then, where do I start?
11:00 Well, I think with John, the fact he starts a project
11:04 and then gets really into it, does a fantastic job,
11:07 and then stops, and then does another project,
11:10 and then starts again, and then stops again.
11:13 So I think I can count maybe about four or five projects
11:16 we've got where he's done a beautiful job halfway through,
11:18 and then he's stopped and carried on.
11:20 And she never quite gets the lobster thermidor right.
11:25 And she calls it lobster thermostat.
11:29 Much to the amusement of the whole family.
11:35 Most kids have fish fingers.
11:36 We have lobster thermidor.
11:39 It just shows you that that Sunday morning paper round
11:42 that she had paid off.
11:45 Do you have something that annoys you most about a partner?
11:50 Yeah, being there.
11:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:56 (upbeat music)
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