Written by Muchang B. (KIS'19)
Edited by YoonSung K. (KIS'21)
━━ February 26, 2018 ━━
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before,” explains Max Tegmark, the president of the Future of Life Institute.
When people mention the term “artificial intelligence,” they usually refer to robots with human-like characteristics, but AI, machines that simulate the autonomous behavior of humans, surrounds us ranging from smartphone assistants to self-driving cars. Humans usually see “artificial narrow intelligence” (ANI), one of two types of AI that are specifically designed to do particular jobs at superhuman rates (Tegmark). General AI (AGI), which is currently conceptual, has the ability to change and create their own programs to adapt to various situations, implying that they are not limited to instructions given to them by a programmer and can outperform humans at any task (Lucklin 15). AGI, theoretically, will have no limit to their abilities when (and if) they come into existence, and their future impacts are shrouded in mystery, so this essay will instead focus on the concept of ANI.
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AI in Education Systems
The increased role of ANI may appeal to us, but a whole new set of incoming problems regarding the job market trails behind their rise ("What Artificial Intelligence Could Mean For Education”). ANI has already decreased the employment of manual labor by 40% since the 1960s, and now they have even begun to take another step forward into cognitive work, which could lead to another unemployment spike (Thompson; “Long-Term and Short-Term Challenges to Ensuring the Safety of AI Systems"). According to the World Economic Forum, an international nonprofit organization known for informing and engaging in various global-scale topics, ANI is estimated to replace about 5 million jobs by 2020, especially towards education, and the presence of more sophisticated artificial intelligence educational (AIEd) systems already influences the way that students all over the world learn today, destined to leave deeper impacts in the future. An optimistic guiding thought has been that “if workers have flexible skills and if the educational infrastructure expands sufficiently, then the race between technology and education will not be won by either side and prosperity will be widely shared” (Lucklin 16). However, in an informational paper called Intelligence Unleashed, Pearson, an international educational service corporation, predicts from previous trends of technology’s educational impact on humans that the rapid development of AIEd systems will bring a host of new roles that humans could not have foreseen or imagined, potentially being able to drastically extend its influence beyond expectations. Further analyzing this rate of change in which ANI affects humans prompts the question: “To what extent can artificial narrow intelligence be used to replace human occupations in the field of education?”
One of the factors that contribute to the increased use of AIEd in the classroom environment is the accessibility. Not only do AIEd systems perform more efficiently, but they can provide a multitude of lessons outside of the class. Hundreds of students wanting to review a lesson outside of class in various locations can easily access the materials, guides, and lectures through the internet, while teachers are limited by personal schedules. Additionally, Rose Luckin, a professor of Learner Centred Design at the UCL Knowledge Lab specializing in AIEd for over 20 years, adds on that “AI also excel when it comes to individualized learning through adaptive educational programs and software”. In conjunction, Sal Khan, the founder of an educational site called Khan Academy, provides a similar point that with technology, every student can learn at their own pace with their own automated tutor, thus allowing them to meticulously master skills that build upon each other (Khan). It is through Khan Academy where Mr. Khan uploads thousands of video lessons and programs on countless topics for the world to access anytime and anywhere. On a slight contrast, Dr. Rand Hindi, a data scientist and the founder/CEO of Snips, a private-by-design software development kit, believes that instead of creating a common curriculum for students to follow like on Khan Academy, he argues that AIEd systems should help students in leading them through unique paths based off on their interests. Doing this can promote the student’s motivation to learn, increasing the rate of learning in topics relevant to the student’s needs and wants.
While these programs can be effective in some qualities, the development and use of AIEd systems will never be fully autonomous. Barbara Kurshan, an author, and writer on education with technology doubts that ANI will succeed in the educational system as it lacks the ability to each adaptively and creatively, both which are skills only accessible to humans. Furthermore, Ollivier Dyens, a professor and author of multiple books regarding the rise of technology, asserts that artificial intelligence will “disrupt higher level education” and will eventually have a net drawback on students learning by decreasing creativity and independence. Because of these lacking and possibly degenerative qualities, AIEd systems are more of an aid designed for students to learn off of but never to depend on, and while ANI benefit the educational system through lectures, organization, and data storage, the essence of teaching comes from the presence of a human teacher in the classroom. Learning the required material in a class is only half of what students learn, and what is just as, if not more, important for students is the personal experience they have with their teachers during the learning process.
The physical presence of a human teacher to provide support to a student emotionally is crucial in learning. ANI can lecture students through videos or programs, but motivation and support come from human teachers, who stand next to students to guide them when they are struggling, both in and out of the classroom ("10 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Reinvent Education"). Students also open up more to human teachers, asking questions and getting more feedback, allowing creativity to blossom and relationships to tighten, which can eventually lead the student to explore beyond narrowly programmed lectures that AIEd systems expose them to.
However, even though the rise of technology cannot be halted, the flow of technology into jobs can be limited and controlled. While it is true that ANI can perform better than humans in almost all manual labor, most jobs involving cognitive tasks will need a balance of ANI efficiency and cognitive human skills. Agencies should be created to set up boundaries of which jobs AI can and cannot take, determined by the particular skills required for each job and the increase in efficiency ANI could bring if it is incorporated. In education, ANI can perform straightforward tasks like providing material and lectures, while the human teachers will serve more as facilitators or counselors.
Geoff Colvin, a senior editor for the Fortune magazine and the author of Humans Are Underrated, a book informing the effect of rising technology on human occupations, wrote that “even though advancing technology will profoundly change and threaten the nature of high-value human skills, no one is doomed” (Kamenetz). Instead, humans should adjust their initiatives to focus more on developing skills that ANI will not be able to replace as easily, such as creative communication/interaction when educating. As a result, while the benefits of using AIEd systems are reaped, the imperative presence of human facilitators can be preserved to help students with situations ranging from homework to private counseling. By keeping a balance of the work performed by both AI and humans, not just education–but all fields of work–can be performed on the ideal level by accessing the efficiency of ANI while also keeping the value of creativity, interactiveness, and emotions independent to humans.
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Bibliography:
- Dyens, Ollivier. "How Artificial Intelligence Is about to Disrupt Higher Education." University Affairs. University Affairs, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.
- Kamenetz, Anya. "What Artificial Intelligence Could Mean For Education." NPREd. NPR, 16 Mar. 2016. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.
- Khan, Sal. "Let's Teach for Mastery, Not Test Scores." Ted Talks Live. TED, Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
- Kurshan, Barbara. "The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Education." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 10 Mar. 2016. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.
- "Long-Term and Short-Term Challenges to Ensuring the Safety of AI Systems." Academically Interesting. WordPress.com, 16 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
- Lucklin, Rose, Wayne Holmes, Mark Griffiths, and Laurie B. Forcier. Intelligence Unleashed. London: Pearson, 2016. Print.
- "Smarter Digital Tools." Smarter Digital Tools. Pearson, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
- Tegmark, Max. "Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence." Future of Life Institute. Future of Life Institute, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
- "10 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Reinvent Education." OnlineUniversities.com. OnlineUniversities.com, 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.
- Thompson, Derek. "When Will Robots Take All the Jobs?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 31 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
- "Why We Should Take Artificial Intelligence in Education More Seriously." University College London. University College London, 14 Oct. 2016. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.
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