When you think back, you can probably name a few teachers that have positively impacted you. But what if artificial intelligence could help accelerate teachers’ impact on students? Well, it’s already beginning to prove that it can.

Artificial intelligence is sending waves through education. For example, ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot, continues to have internet users abuzz, given its ability to answer prompts, create songs, draft emails, and more.

“We’re all trying to figure out how it fits into the existing landscape of higher education,” said Rachel Remmel, assistant dean and director of the University’s Teaching Center, in an article from the University of Rochester.

Digital tools surround younger generations, and it seems that it’s only a matter of time before classrooms are immersed in AI. But some risks are currently on the minds of many educators.

Risks

These risks include the increased likelihood of cheating among students and job disruption for teachers, especially college professors.

But as Sarah Guo, founder and managing partner at early-stage venture capital firm Conviction, said in this CNBC article, these reactions present “a valid yet narrow view.”

Benefits

While personalized tutoring has existed for decades and can be incredibly impactful, it’s not feasible for many students due to expenses. And personalized learning experiences are hard to come by in regular educational settings due to time constraints and other challenges. How can AI help?

“It’s time intensive to teach when you think about answering student questions, giving specific feedback on why they’re getting a problem incorrect, or showing them how to improve their answers,” Guo said. “With AI, you can draft different forms of teaching materials and generate quiz questions in minutes instead of laboring over it.”

“Many students currently don’t have a personalized learning experience to fit their needs because there aren’t enough teachers to facilitate this,” said Danny King, CEO and co-founder at Accredible, a digital credentialing platform that works with customers including Google, Harvard, MIT, and McGraw Hill, in this article. “The existing pool of teachers are often so overworked that they don’t have enough time to address individual students.”

AI, and specifically chatbots backed by programmed large language models, can help students self-guide through materials and tailor their education to specific learning styles. AI can also help instructors move away from repetitive or routine learning and instead have them focus on what makes them impactful in students’ lives.

“One teacher can give focused, impactful help to students that need it because AI will be able to tell educators which areas or topics a student needs the most help with,” King said.

“It’s amazing to have this technology do in seconds what it takes many of us hours to do,” stated Deborah Rossen-Knill, executive director of the University of Rochester’s Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program and a professor of writing studies, in this article. “There’s just an endless set of possibilities.”

Key Points:

• There are risks to be aware of when it comes to incorporating AI tools in the classroom, but also benefits.
• Artificial intelligence is starting to prove that it can accelerate the impact teachers can have on students.
• Chatbots can help students tailor their education to specific learning styles.

DID YOU KNOW: In ChatGPT, the GPT stands for “generative pretrained transformer.” OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, and reached one million users in five days. According to OpenAI’s co-founder Sam Altman, it surpassed 100 million after two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Google is also nearing the public release of a rival to ChatGPT called Bard. And there is more just on the horizon.