How AI is Making Teachers Obsolete — and Why That’s a Good Thing

AI is Changing Education Right Now and Why You Should Care

AI is changing education right now and why you should care

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

If you believe Hollywood films, they will tell you that the way AI will make humans obsolete is by destroying us with killer robots.

As a Medium reader, I think you’re probably a more thoughtful person who doesn’t believe everything Hollywood films tell you is true or even likely.

But have you wondered if AI could actually make humans obsolete in some way?

What if I told you AI is actually having a real impact on education in schools right now?

And what if I told you that not only is AI replacing the work of teachers, but that this might actually be a good thing?

AI lands in schools in Washington, USA

I have written previously about the potential for AI to bring huge benefits with personalised education in Emperor’s Envy: How AI Is Enabling an Elite Education — For You.

But even I’ve been surprised to discover how quickly AI is being applied for real, in schools and is already making a huge impact.

An article this week in a regional US newspaper reported about a junior school in Washington state that is pioneering the use of AI in the classroom.

In the article, Steve Schreiner a learning coordinator for the district understands how past changes to education have been unsettling for teachers:

You have to imagine maths teachers feelings of horror, when suddenly the machine could do the calculations…of course, what it meant for maths was that students ability to think became more valuable than their ability to compute

He then describes the magnitude of the changes in the classroom he has seen recently with AI:

It is such a different way of producing things…if the Industrial Revolution was about physical products, now we’re talking about tools that help us mass-produce or hone knowledge products: written word, imagery, communications, things that people do significant training on can often be outsourced to AI…what has happened in the last 10 months feels like it has outpaced what happened in the 10 years that preceded that I mean, this is exponential change brought to life

There are certainly some who fear the use of AI in education means plagiarism, and a lack of work and learning by students.

Perhaps that something you might worry about?

But if you did, you might be repeating the misunderstandings of the maths teachers who once reacted with horror to the introduction of calculators.

The new classroom power-tool

AI in education is happening right now..

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