The Implications of Artificial Intelligence on Education
By Prem Acharya
With recent advancements in generative Artificial Intelligence (like ChatGPT), many important questions about the use of such technology have arisen among governments and more. But, one place where the effect of this technology is already visible, is in education. This leads to the question, what are the implications of A.I. on education?
Introduction
When the internet first rose in popularity in the mid-80s, many important questions and concerns were asked similar to that of the current questions surrounding Artificial Intelligence in education. Many of these concerns involved students ability to look up answers on the internet. But teachers adapted and now almost all schools use technology to enhance their students education.
Cheating
Many concerns surrounding A.I. are different than those of the internet. For example, instead of students being able to look up ideas for an essay, students can use tools like ChatGPT to write their entire essay. For teachers this is a huge issue as the technology used is almost entirely human-like. To combat this, it is very likely that teachers will assign more in-class writing rather than at-home essay’s to ensure that their students cannot cheat. This is going to be a major shift in the way that teachers approach teaching and testing just like when changes needed to be made in education due to the internet. Cheating is the most popular issue regarding A.I. and education, but, not all the effects of A.I. are negative.
Tutoring
Studies show that one-on-one tutoring greatly accelerates a students ability to learn. With this in-mind, Sal Khan created the popular non-profit Khan Academy in 2008. Khan’s goal is to provide a world class education for all through his platform. At the time of writing, more than 135 million people around the world use Khan Academy. Khan, recently found a new way to reach his ambitious goal through using Artificial Intelligence. The program currently uses OpenAI’s software and is named Khanmigo. It can be used to be a one-on-one tutor through Khan Academy. Though Khanmigo is in its testing stages and can only be used with a donation, Khan hopes to make it free in the near future. Khan believes that Khanmigo could be revolutionary in improving students ability to learn and have access to learning all over the world due to its teacher-like abilities.
Conclusion
The rise of Artificial Intelligence is sure to affect the educational system. With this in mind, it will be necessary for all teachers and systems to adapt to the ways in which students will use Artificial Intelligence. But not all of what A.I. presents to education will be negative, in possibility it could bring more positives than negative. A.I. could allow students to reach their full potential with programs like Khanmigo and other future applications. In the near future, it is very possible that A.I. will a normal part of education just like the internet is today.
