How "Smart" is Generative AI and What Does That Mean for Teaching and Learning?

The divergent views on AI's intelligence expressed by Sam Altman of OpenAI and Yann LeCun of Meta highlight a fascinating discussion with direct implications for AI in education.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (ChatGPT, DALL-E, Sora), has high expectations for ChatGPT-5 and the company’s pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Yann LeCun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta (Facebook, Insta, and LLaMA AI) is more reserved in his approach to just how “smart” AI really is, asserting that ChatGPT-4 is not nearly as smart as a cat or a dog.?

A particularly striking example LeCun used was that a 10-year-old can learn to clear the dinner table and do the dishes with a short explanation. AI is currently unable to do this at all, and while impressive steps have been made with robotics and AI, they are a long way from the intelligence of a 10 year old.?

What's your take on AI's role in future learning environments?

The key difference in the perspectives is language. Currently all the models that were talking about whether they're producing images or videos or text are all based on the Large Language Model (LLM). Whether the language is any written human language or a computer programming language like Python, LLMs are able to reproduce it rather convincingly.?

The impact this is already having in education and educational institutions says a lot about our definition of intelligence in educational settings. Education is defined by language to the point where mastery of any subject is often solely evaluated linguistically (standardized tests, essays, journal publications, etc.).?

The act of learning involves much more than just language, however. As LeCun points out, how we learn to interact with the world, plan for certain goals, and create unique expressions has nothing to do with language.?Experienced teachers are well aware of this, and a major reason for the push for experiential learning and authentic assessments.

The non-linguistic aspect of learning is exactly why I don't see generative AI replacing teachers or instructional designers.

The art of teaching and learning is much like the creative process in any artistic endeavor. When I am designing and developing a new class or program, I often start with a vision of what I want the students to learn by the end. This vision includes not just the knowledge and skills that the students will need but also emotional characteristics and a feeling of passion or motivation to learn more.?

However, so much of our educational system is based on language and creating written course material, teachers and instructional designers are often bogged down in writing, copyediting, and re-writing content. In my experience (and appearing in recent research), creating the written material for courses is the most time-consuming factor by far and a major contributor to burnout.?

At Innovate Ai Systems, our mission with AiiD is to create an AI-powered Instructional Designer (AiiD) to help teachers, faculty, trainers, and coaches create instructionally-sound course material. By leveraging AI to handle the writing, ideation, image creation, up to automating building the course in an LMS with an AI agent, educators have more bandwidth and energy for the non-linguistic aspect of teaching: the human aspect. There is simply no substitute for an experienced, empathetic, and energetic teacher.?

How is AI impacting your experience as a teacher?

Interested in Learning More?

Please contact us to get on our waitlist for the beta launch of AiiD.?Your AI-powered Instructional Designer, AiiD, dramatically reduces the administrative workload for educators by automating content creation. This allows teachers to devote more time to student engagement and personalized instruction, significantly enhancing the educational experience.

Want to explore how AI can revolutionize education further? Join our conversation below or reach out to join our upcoming webinar: The AI Revolution: Transforming Education for a Smarter Tomorrow.