There has been a lot of public discussion about Artificial Intelligence and its impact on our society. In fact, it has been said that we may be referring to this next generation as “The AI Generation”! Many of our discussions center around the attainment of knowledge and how AI may impact how our children will learn. Many of our schools and teachers are just now experimenting with how AI can be useful in the classroom and help with student learning. The tools that are now available are being incorporated more frequently in schools, and some of the results have great promise.
However, the use of AI is a significant paradigm shift from what we have traditionally utilized for learning and education. Even with the use of technology we have not had the level of interaction that we have with AI, where you can verbally speak with an avatar and move through learning exercises. AI can actually coach you as you learn each specific task; you can ask questions, receive answers, pose an inquiry and based on a massive amount of research, can maintain a discussion about certain issues. This generation will be dialoguing with AI sources that will actually provide the function of a tutor or teacher.
Some of the positives of AI is that it can do the more mundane tasks that are repetitive or research-based and provide the necessary information to reinforce learning without having a person involved. I can easily envision how AI could help students who are struggling with a subject that they are not comfortable with, as it can work through the information with a consistent methodology until the student masters that information. It can also help students who have comprehension problems overcome some of those deficits by being an artificial tutor that can repeat information as much as is needed. This could allow teachers to assign a student to an AI avatar while the teacher can provide the more strategic and specific relational concepts.
That is where AI cannot help – it cannot do the emotional depth, the relational connections, the creativity and other more complex human interactions that provide motivation, hope and encouragement. Although AI can be helpful to comprehension, it cannot provide a human connection that has the deeper social and moral values that are a significant part of our life learning. We certainly are not ready for AI to teach values to our kids.
It appears that this will be a whole new discovery process. The research is still in early stages, and we have yet to understand the full implications and possibilities of AI technology. From most of the research I have read, I don’t think we can appreciate the impact of AI just yet. As we further understand the pros and cons, I think we can figure out where to place AI in our educational systems and in the lives of the students so that it can be positive. AI does appear a bit ominous, and it will be important that we master it and now allow it to master us. I believe we will need to be knowledgeable and wise in how we take our next steps in how AI will be used to teach and grow our kids. It is my hope that it will be a positive tool for the future educational development of our kids.
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
