AI Tutors vs. Human Teachers: Are We Entering a New Era of Education?

Exploring How AI is Shaping the Future of Learning and Challenging the Role of Educators

Over the past few years, we have seen AI gradually transform various fields, from healthcare to entertainment and beyond. But without a doubt, AI is changing the field of education far more than any other.

A representation of how AI is transforming the educational sector. Image by Canva AI

From adaptive learning platforms such as Stanley Han’s “Koobits” that ensure that each student receives adequate educational content to AI-powered tutors helping students understand complex ideas, AI-based educational tools promise a more personalized and data-driven approach to education in general. But with this wave of innovation comes the nagging question: Will AI ever replace our beloved teachers and take over education entirely? Well, let’s dive into it…

This is Singapore’s Stanley Han. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the famous AI-powered E-learning site “Koobits”. Since its inception in 2007, Koobits has grown to over 150 countries and has a total of 250,000+ learners using it. (SOURCE)

The Emergence of AI in Education

AI in education, though not completely new, has rapidly accelerated recently as it’s slowly being implemented in schools across the word. Educational platforms and learning tools such as Koobits, DreamBox, and Century Tech are just a few examples of AI-driven platforms, changing how students learn, especially middle schoolers and elementary students. In most of these systems carry out algorithm-based decision on a student’s pace, weaknesses, and strengths brings adaptive lessons and exercises in real time.

Nowadays, many AI-powered learning tools are being brought into practice in schools. These learning tools utilise data to create personalized reccomendations for every student. (SOURCE)

Take Koobits, an AI-powered online learning environment that helps students at the elementary level to understand subjects like mathematics and science through personalized exercises based on the performance of the child. Similarly, DreamBox has leveraged AI to personalize math lessons, offering real-time feedback and support for students who have difficulty understanding some concepts.

AI learning tools use data analysis of a particular student’s test scores and their worksheet, homework, and practice performance. (SOURCE)

These systems are supposed to address one of the most chronic issues of education: catering to the different needs of every student in a single class. Conventional teaching methods, usually a one-size-fits-all curriculum, cannot be adaptable enough with a student who may think at a different pace than the rest. However, AI learning systems are created to adapt to each individual such that a much more focused attention can be given, which would otherwise have been missed by conventional methods.

With the modern teaching method, there is no personalised way to teach each individual student. This is an AI-generated image of a classroom in which students are using AI learning tools to learn at their own pace and comfort. Image Generated by Canva AI

AI Advantages: Customized Learning

The biggest advantage of AI-based tutoring is customized learning. Traditional classrooms often teach by the middle of the pack-for the average learner. It seems to leave out the slow-learning students and does not challenge advanced learners. An AI-based platform, on the other hand, is always measuring where a student stands and then adjusts to the student’s learning speed. Advanced students will be challenged to complete even more demanding coursework, while the slower students will benefit from supporting measures until they master all the most challenging concepts.

This is an image of a modern classroom in which students learn at their own pace using AI-powered educational learning tools. (SOURCE)

This personalized strategy can actually bridge achievement gaps. For example, a study by the University of California, Berkeley, showed that students receiving adaptive learning tools improved grades drastically compared to their peers who were taught traditionally. This is due to the fact that these AI systems analyze just how students interact with educational content, which means they offer just the right amount of challenge to keep students interested and not overwhelmed.

AI learning tools keep students engaged with their studies, not overwhelmed. These tools provide personalized educational material for each and every student to learn at their own pace. (SOURCE)

Also, AI is available 24/7. Unlike human teachers, who are bound by school hours and workloads, access to AI is available at any hour of the day. As such, students can practice concepts outside, seek answers or explanations, and even ask other questions outside the 7 hours confined in a classroom.

AI can help you study, anywhere, at any time. Don’t limit yourself to the 4 corners of the classroom.

“ AI and tech can help you study, anywhere, at any time. Don’t limit yourself to the 4 corners of the classroom. “ (SOURCE)

AI: A Supplement, Not Substitute

While there are many advantages of AI tutors, there is equally a flip side that does not lack its own limitation. For instance, education is more than simply the diffusion of knowledge; it also includes human interaction, emotional support, as well as acquiring social skills—all of which are lacking in AI. That is way beyond the scope of what an AI can provide through only intelligence.

There are many aspects to a classroom that encourage a student to learn that AI lacks such as human contact, interaction, and socialism.

In other words, AI lacks the finer feelings that display human emotion and inspire the student at a personal level. Teachers do much more than just transferring knowledge; they infuse critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. Most educators argue that AI—no matter how advanced—will never substitute for the guidance, mentorship, and encouragement required for students to develop into well-rounded individuals.

A show-and-tell in a classroom, displaying human interaction and respect. Something that AI cannot compete with. (SOURCE)

In many ways, ideal situations do not call for AI replacement of teachers but rather complementing their efforts. AI may automatically carry out repetitive tasks such as grading assignments, tracking progress, and offering personalized practice exercises, freeing the teacher to then spend time on higher-level tasks, including fostering critical thinking or even one-on-one support. In a world like this, teachers and AI work in unison, each against their different strengths.

A world in which AI and teachers work side-by-side, instead of against each other. (SOURCE)

AI can also be used to gain insight into student performance trends that a teacher alone would not see. This is through the analysis of volumes of data whereby AI systems can flag areas where students are struggling, thus allowing teachers to intervene more effectively. This information-centric approach to teaching can supplement and complement the process of teaching, often giving educators insights they may never have had in the first place.

Risks and Ethical Considerations

With great power, however, also come great risks and concerns-particularly, of course, with this huge increase in AI in education. Some of the most serious concerns involve overdependence on technology. The more central to the learning process AI becomes, the higher the real risk that students will learn to rely too heavily on the AI and thereby weaken their abilities as independent learners or critical thinkers.

Of course, even though education is important, students must be able to learn outside of a school curriculum and find their own passions, whether it lies in photography or aviation, etc. Image edited by author on Canva.

Secondly, AI systems are not free from bias. Algorithms are only as good as the information to which they are trained, and faulty or biased data can introduce those same flaws or biases into AI recommendations. In education, this could further create inequities in outcomes, where particular groups of students were being unfairly treated through AI-decision-making processes. That would be the case if the AI is aimed at students who typically excel; then it would set unrealistic benchmarks for students with other learning backgrounds.

AI is often subject to bias due to the faulty or inaccurate data in it’s dataset. This bias can unfairly treat a particular group of students. (SOURCE)

There are serious privacy issues too. AI platforms gather large amounts of data about the students, like the learning patterns of each student and even test scores. All this casts a question mark over where this would be stored and how it would be used. Schools and parents also need to be ensured that necessary safeguards are available to prevent misuse of such sensitive data about children.

The Future of Education—A Balanced Approach?

With the process of continuous evolution, AI is likely to go much further and deeper into education. However, instead of the complete replacement of teachers, the future might hold a hybrid model wherein AI and human educators together result in a more dynamic, personalized, and effective environment of learning.

Image generated by Canva AI.

In this scenario, AI deals with the data-driven personalized approaches to education, while teachers guide students through more challenging emotional, social, and intellectual challenges. AI tutors will lift heavy loads in areas where human teachers are strapped for time or energy, but they will never replace the empathy, creativity, and mentorship that define great educators.

As AI is more and more included in schools, educational settings will need to be aware of concerns surrounding ethics. As a result, ensuring proper, ethical use of AI, with emphasis on application that supports rather than undermines learning, is key to the success of AI. While AI tutors are definitely transforming the face of education through aspects such as personalized learning tailored to individual needs, they will never be the silver bullet from which all pains of education will be cured. And although AI can provide data-driven insights and flexible learning opportunities, it can’t replace the lifeblood of human elements that teachers bring into classrooms.

Human classrooms provide a lifeblood that makes learning a more engaging process. (SOURCE)

Education in the future will be a delicate balance of when to apply AI, supplementing teaching without losing contact with what is important: human contact, creativity, and thinking. Schools and educators as they move forward in this new era should be aiming for a goal that sees AI and teachers together to ensure that all students thrive. Ultimately, AI in education is not so much about role substitution but rather transformation: helping both teacher and student reach their best to succeed in a rapidly changing world.