Why Schools will Never Be Fully AI
David Game College, a private school in London will be replacing human teachers with robots this September. While the omnipresence of artificial intelligence in educational spaces sounds frightening, the integration of technology in classrooms is not a novel concept. Lately, schools have adopted various education technology tools, including AI-generated programs such as ChatGPT, to provide more personalized and efficient education to students. However, employing robots as teachers in classrooms takes the degree of complexity of ethics to another level.
Students at David Game College will be taught nearly exclusively through AI. The only “human” interference in their education will be “learning coaches,” teachers who monitor students and ensure they are on task. Students claim that AI will be able to identify flaws and correct them more accurately and efficiently. Staff, too, believe that AI will remove all precision issues that human errors have not been able to address.
Affordability is another factor that led the school to opt in for AI-teaching classrooms. Employing AI is cheaper to maintain than hiring human teachers and staff. It is undeniable that AI brings benefits in terms of precision and efficiency; what should not be overlooked, however, is the value of social and critical thinking skills, which can be delivered only by humans.
Schools are more than institutions where knowledge is deposited to students. They serve a greater purpose of preparing the next generation to become functional members of society who know, and are willing to, make a commitment to building a peaceful, sustainable, and communal society. AI, despite its potential, is not capable of recreating these kinds of social interactions. Learning through AI will make the students’ knowledge and understanding of the world a mile wide but only an inch deep. Although teachers may make mistakes, their faults add a humane aspect to education. On the other hand, while AI may always be accurate with facts, students will not be able to learn from flaws and mistakes, the natural traits that define humanity.
I have witnessed the challenges of AI in my own classroom lately. Some of my teachers have begun to rely on AI to redesign their curricula. In my AP Environmental Science class, for instance, most of the assignments consisted of AI-generated labs, notes, and materials. The goal of such AI-generated pedagogy and curriculum was to ensure that our learning would be more facilitated and that we would learn the proper material. Unfortunately, most of my classmates shared that they weren’t given the opportunity to learn the subject in depth and that overall, AI has been inefficient at forming deep bonds and interests between students and the subject. They also expressed that it was hard to digest the information without the teacher’s explanation, which is often accompanied with providing examples. Many students felt that they were forced to do work with no genuinity or care in the subject, probably the reason that made it harder for students to learn and connect.
To teach doesn’t mean to just feed students with information; it is a valuable act as it helps deepen a student’s understanding and interest in a subject. Although AI might educate students efficiently and accurately on a subject matter, they lack the humane elements that teachers are capable of providing to encourage students to learn. The future of AI is bright, but at the end of the day, we cannot dismiss the fact that it is always going to be artificial.
