There are few professions that won’t be dramatically impacted by AI.
This transformative power of artificial intelligence is a hot topic, and Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn recently weighed in with a particularly insightful perspective on the future of education. His comments highlight the unprecedented scalability and personalized learning potential AI offers, while also emphasizing the enduring, irreplaceable role of human interaction and care in the learning environment.
According to von Ahn, education is poised for significant shifts within the next two decades, driven primarily by AI’s superior scalability compared to traditional human instruction. “First of all, I do think that education is going to change over the next some number of years. I can’t say one year, but it’s probably less than 20 years. Something is going to change. And the reason for that is it’s just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers.”
He quickly clarifies that this doesn’t spell the end for educators. “And by the way, that doesn’t mean that teachers are going to go away. You still need people to take care of the students.” Similarly, the physical school infrastructure isn’t likely to disappear. “I also don’t think schools are going to go away because you still need childcare, in my view.”
The core advantage of AI, von Ahn asserts, lies in its ability to provide individualized attention that is simply impossible for a human teacher managing multiple students. “There’s one teacher and 30 students. Each teacher cannot give individualized attention to each student, but the computer can. And really, the computer can actually know with very precise knowledge about what this one student is good at and bad at, that the teacher just has no chance of having, because there’s 30 students and they just kind of give you that.” This precision leads to a more effective learning experience. “So I do think that it would be more effective if some of that time is being spent with essentially an AI teaching you. I do think it’s going to get to that.”
Furthermore, AI can address the scarcity of truly exceptional educators. “It’s also the case that there are extremely good teachers, for sure, but there’s not very many of them. And certainly most everybody in the world doesn’t have access to a good one, so I think that there’s going to be some change like that.” However, he cautions that such transformations in education will not happen overnight. “I do think it’s going to take a while because changes in education are very slow.”
Von Ahn’s vision points to a hybrid model where AI handles the heavy lifting of personalized instruction, allowing human educators to focus on the softer and social aspects of student development. This aligns with broader trends in education technology, where platforms like Khan Academy and Coursera already leverage algorithms to deliver customized learning paths. The recent proliferation of AI tools like ChatGPT has further ignited discussions about AI’s potential to generate educational content, provide instant feedback, and even simulate tutoring sessions.
The implications are profound. In such a future, teachers might transition from being primary dispensers of information to facilitators, mentors, and emotional support systems. Their role would shift towards fostering critical thinking, creativity, and social-emotional skills – areas where human nuance and empathy remain paramount. This evolving landscape necessitates a re-evaluation of teacher training programs and a greater emphasis on digital literacy for both educators and students, ensuring that the benefits of AI are harnessed effectively while preserving the essential human element in learning.