Artificial intelligence is on everyone's lips today. People write about it, discuss it, and most importantly, they develop it.

The Department of Foreign Languages of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tula State University decided to talk about artificial intelligence in English. Together they held a quiz entitled “The advantages of using artificial intelligence in various fields of science” on March 28th, as part of the activities of the Club of English Language Lovers “Lingua”.

The contingent of quiz participants corresponded to the declared theme. These were the students of advanced study groups, the students who chose the programme “Translator in the field of professional communication”, first-year students from India of the Institute of International Education, studying in the specialty “General Medicine in English”, as well as first-year students of the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. Without the latter, as you understand, the event would not have turned out so professionally colourful, because artificial intelligence will become one of the directions of their future activity for the students of this structural unit. And the rest of the guys will encounter it in their lives.  

The quiz was held in the format of the game ‘What? Where? When?’. The tasks were prepared by the teachers of the Foreign Languages Department.

All players were divided into 5 international teams of 7 players in each: Brainy Bunch, Knowledge Ninjas, Trivia Titans, Fact Finders and Quizmasters United.

The contestants went through seven rounds. By the way, the number “7” is considered sacramental to a certain extent. Let's remember at least the seven wonders of the world, the Seventh Heaven, and Maslenitsa, which is also called Cheese week. But in computer science this digit is sometimes used to replace the question mark, not only accidentally, but also on purpose. And quizzes, as we know, often involve answering questions.

The first round included 6 multiple choice questions on the history of the emergence of artificial intelligence and its application today, and the second round included 6 questions to match pictures and identify those generated by artificial intelligence. 

The third round contained 6 puzzle-rebuses containing words and phrases related to different areas of artificial intelligence, and the fourth round contained 6 open-ended questions for the teams to discuss.

During the fifth round, participants had to guess English idioms from pictures generated by artificial intelligence, and during the sixth round - famous films in which artificial intelligence is either the main character or an important part of the plot. 

The seventh round was a kind of apogee of the quiz. Each team prepared a one-minute presentation on the case “Artificial Intelligence in Education: personalised learning with an AI tutor versus traditional interaction with a teacher in the classroom”. The students tried not only to present their thoughts competently, but also to argue their position.

Prem Sangle, a first-year student of the Institute of International Education, shared his impressions of the quiz. Olga Viktorovna Filimonova, senior lecturer of the Foreign Languages Department, acted as a translator. 

- I liked the quiz very much! - said the future doctor. - Thanks to it, I learnt more about artificial intelligence and communicated with Russian students.

Sergey Demidov, a fourth-year student of the “Customs” programme at the Institute of Law and Management, is studying in the “Translator in Professional Communication” programme. He has participated in quizzes in English more than once.

 - For me it is an opportunity to improve my English and communicate with English-speaking students of TulSU, - he emphasised. - And, of course, to broaden my horizons. During the game we get a lot of useful and very interesting information. 

Tatyana Krikunkova    

Photo by Mikhail Gindin