My Real Fear for AI in Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Bing, and Google's Bard are revolutionizing the world at an unprecedented pace. AI has been featured in numerous media outlets, including 60 Minutes, ABC News, and TED Talks. Since ChatGPT became publicly available in November 2022, it has been adopted faster than any software tool in history, with over 100 million users to date. But as someone who has been involved in education for years, my real fear for AI in education is that this new technology will radically change the world, while education systems will be slow to adapt, or worse, not adapt at all.

AI presents various opportunities to revolutionize education. AI-powered tools can offer differentiated instruction by observing students' progress, providing help when they struggle, or delivering more challenging tasks when they master content too quickly. Intelligent textbooks like the "Inquire" iPad app developed by Stanford researchers can monitor students' focus and attention while they read, offering interactive text with key definitions, highlighting and annotation capabilities, and suggested materials tailored to students' needs and interests.

Currently, technologies like Duolingo and Reach Every Reader use AI to create and score tests and academic games that can efficiently and accurately assess students' abilities and weaknesses. These technologies will soon help promote more equitable learning by providing personalized learning experiences tailored to students' needs and learning styles.

Despite the many advantages of AI in education, there are several challenges we must still address. Dependence on these systems can cause students to become overly reliant on AI and neglect traditional learning approaches that promote critical thinking, creativity, and social skills. Privacy concerns arise regarding how AI collects, stores, and uses student data, as schools have become easy prey for cyber criminals.

If not regulated, AI systems can also perpetuate bias and discrimination if the algorithms and data sets used to train them are managed. Additionally, implementing AI technology in schools will undoubtedly be expensive, as few educators have the expertise to integrate AI into their existing systems. This can create a more significant gap between schools that can afford to invest in AI technology and those that cannot, exacerbating existing inequalities in the education system.

For those of us who have been in education for a while, we remember the promise of personal computers. In the 80s and 90s, computers were seen as a way to level the playing field in education and provide all students with access to technology. However, computers and internet access are expensive, and as we saw during the pandemic, many schools and students did not have the resources needed to learn virtually.

Similarly, No Child Left Behind and standardized testing were meant to provide a way to measure student performance and hold schools and teachers more accountable. However, instead of achieving growth, we saw a narrow curriculum prioritizing test-taking skills over deeper learning and critical thinking. Even more recently, with the pandemic, schools were supposed to embrace the "next" normal, where every student had access to high-quality online and blended learning courses. But what we've seen since returning from the pandemic is a harkening back to teacher-centered classrooms.

My primary concern regarding AI in education is that while this cutting-edge technology may revolutionize the world, our education systems may not be able to keep up or, even worse, may not want to keep up. If our education systems fail to keep up with the pace of this technological change, students will fall behind, and existing inequalities will widen even further. As educators, we must advocate for the integration of AI technology into the education system in a responsible and equitable manner while, at the same time, ensuring that traditional learning approaches are not neglected. Only then can we ensure that AI truly transforms education and provides a better future for our students.