- Since ChatGPT was launched, AI has been a controversial topic for teachers.
- OpenAI, Google and Microsoft have all tried to show how their AI assistants can help learn.
- Educators say they are actually optimistic about using Generation AI to save time.
Big tech companies want people to believe that artificial intelligence is a good idea in the classroom, and educators say it actually is.
In May, three of the leaders in the AI arms race – OpenAI, Microsoft and Google – debuted impressive demos of chatbots, and education was a hot topic at their events.
Google highlighted Gemini Education as a tool for teachers to use Workspace to create agendas, summarize meetings, and improve presentations. When OpenAI released GPT-4o, it featured a virtual tutor who could help you solve algebra equations in real time over video.
Microsoft has announced a partnership with online learning platform Khan Academy to provide teachers with Khanmigo, a free AI tool that can be used to plan lessons, assignments, and track student performance.
Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, has also publicly stated his belief that AI will “improve” education.
And despite concerns that students might use ChatGPT to cheat on their school assignments, time-strapped education experts seem positive about generative AI's ability to help teachers, primarily because it could help them make better use of their time.
Take Tierra Harris, a Texas-based third-grade teacher, who has made the most of generative AI services this school year, accessing resources “within seconds.”
Harris said he uses ChatGPT to write letters to parents, respond to emails, and even create quizzes based on current lesson plans — all educational activities that don't require him to stand in front of a classroom full of kids.
While it will be some time before AI is fully integrated into public schools, Harris, who asked BI not to name his workplace because his comments about AI are personal and don't necessarily represent the school district's position, said he hopes AI resources will soon be available to send to parents who need homework help.
“The principal encouraged us to be proactive and not be afraid for the kids to get it,” she said.
Kirby Alexander, an associate education professor at Texas Christian University, said the system also helps tutor students at the college level.
Alexander told BI that AI can help students brainstorm ideas and develop case studies that they previously had to come up with on their own, “without taking up a lot of class time.”
His students are also learning from the technology's flaws, honing their skills in spotting flaws in AI-generated content.
AI can “blow away the limits” for students
Other educators are relying on AI for their entire programs.
MacKenzie Price is an advocate of shaking up the traditional eight-hour school day. Price is the co-founder of 2hr Learning and Alpha School, a program in which students work with an AI tutor for two hours to learn academics and the rest of the time to develop life skills like “leadership, financial literacy, public speaking and perseverance,” she told Business Insider.
Assigning academic instruction to AI would give children a more personalized experience, allowing them to learn at their own level and not fall behind their classmates, she said.
“We're literally raising the floor of what students can do and blowing the ceiling away and helping students wherever they are,” she told BI.
Naturally, concerns have arisen about the safety and reliability of using AI in the classroom.
Beyond concerns about data, “educators recognize that AI may automatically generate inappropriate or erroneous outputs, and they are wary that associations and automations made by AI may amplify undesirable biases,” the U.S. Department of Education said in a report released in May 2023. “They are often aware of 'teachable moments' or instructional strategies that human teachers can address but that go undetected or misinterpreted by AI models.”
But the report also points to opportunities presented by AI, such as tailoring resources to student needs, using AI speech recognition to provide more support to students with disabilities, and allowing teachers to “expand the support they provide to individual students when time runs out.”
And while some teachers, like many other workers, worry that AI will take over their jobs, “on the contrary, the Department for Education categorically denies the idea that AI will replace teachers,” the report said.
According to Price of 2hr Learning and Alpha School, the intersection of AI and education is seen as essential, and just as necessary as teaching kids how to use AI if we want to prepare them for adulthood.
Most importantly, it is expected to free up teachers' time for other non-teaching responsibilities.
“Our nation's teachers are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated and tasked with the impossible task of teaching every single student,” Price said.
Price believes AI could ultimately be the tool that changes that.
