Of all the areas of life where artificial intelligence will have an impact, the biggest might well be education

Of all the areas of life where artificial intelligence will have an impact, the biggest might well be education. This is because learning is so important, and also because current provision often leaves a lot to be desired. This is not generally the fault of teachers, who are often people with great passion for education. They are the active ingredient in today’s education system, but in most countries they are under-valued, and burdened by absurd paperwork and admin tasks. Also, they are human, which means they are highly variable, often with no effective feedbacks and evaluations. Think back to your own school days: how many of your teachers were positively inspirational? As many as 10%? 20%? 50%? likely not 100%. How many were somewhere between OK and mediocre?

From personalized learning, which adapts teaching methods and materials to specific needs of individual students, to "automated" assessments, which free teachers from time spent for reviewing tests, so that they may have more time to work with students, artificial intelligent solutions have already transformed the way students find and interact with information during the ongoing pandemic.

The opportunities offered by artificial intelligence to improve educational outcomes and accessibility can be truly unique, with impacts on the lives of millions of children and young people. Not only didactics and educational methods, but AI can also give an impetus to the world of research and universities closely linked to the world of education, creating new solutions and training talents who can continue to exploit technology to improve the world.

As father of two little girls, I continue to think about the way AI can support the world of education, to contribute in an area so extremely impactful for all aspects of our life. We can improve access to required skills, promote the inclusion of diverse groups of students, or create new teaching methods capable of preparing children for the future.

As in other sectors, AI can give "super powers" to the world of educators and teachers. McKinsey's research "How artificial intelligence will impact K-12 teachers" carried out pre-pandemic, so when teachers were still present in the classroom, showed that teachers spent on average only 49% of their time interacting with teachers. students, dealing in the rest of other activities that are certainly important - such as the administrative part, evaluation etc. - but not as much as the most relevant with children and teens.

From a further study in the study it emerges that it is possible that teachers can regain from 20 to 40% of the hours spent in activities with a high potential of automation to allocate it to direct activity with students or perhaps to create personalized activities. Not only for teachers it is essential to be able to use AI solutions capable of collecting information on students and their learning methods in order to then be able to deliver personalized teaching modules. There are many realities that are working on this front.

Globally, China has always invested heavily in education. The country spent $ 1 billion on AI education last year. New EdTech startups continuously emerge in China. For example, Squirrel AI aims to bring personalization and individual support to students. The United States is second after China in the race to invest in AI education. The country spends a lot on AI every year and has many AI companies within the country. Taking advantage of artificial intelligence in the US education system, they opt for individualized learning with particular attention to the needs of students. The idea behind this is to provide content, identify learning gaps and help the student with learning methods that are best suited to them.

Taking a longer perspective, we may well develop an economy of abundance, where the cost of everything you need for a very good standard of living is close to zero. The economy of abundance is probably what we need in order to survive and thrive when technology will further progress, many years into the future. In a potential system of fully automated luxury capitalism, education may even become “vacational” not “vocational”, and even much more important than it is today. Maybe, when you meet someone at a party, instead of asking what they do for a living, you will ask them what they are learning.

For me, this is probably the most stimulating and promising aspect of artificial intelligence: the doors it is opening for all of us to thrive and create a better world.

THIS POST IS BASED ON A LONGER ARTICLE I RECENTLY PUBLISHED ON agendadigitale.eu. YOU MAY FIND HERE THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE, WHICH INCLUDES SEVERAL ADDITIONAL SCENARIOS AND CONCRETE APPLICATIONS