An Educator's View on AI

As an educator, I think a lot about the next generation and how to help them thrive in an increasingly competitive world. At the forefront of this, undoubtedly, is the use of AI. As someone who took a typewriter class in high school, I am amazed by how quickly AI is changing the world; even scarier is that it is quickly outcompeting many humans for jobs. It is terrifying to think what a world of AI will look like in 15 years. It seems that AI is simultaneously becoming indispensable in our society while making the jobs they now replace exactly opposite. What do we think about that? The job higher education will need to solve over the next decade is how to teach AI in a way that is both mentally healthy and supportive, without replacing students’ values. The answer, in my humble opinion, is not to denigrate the tool or shy students away from it. Saying students must avoid AI entirely so they can challenge themselves is like insisting someone learn arithmetic without ever using a calculator. I love math, but I actually can’t add well at all, and it doesn’t matter due to the presence of technology.

The upside is that AI is so malleable that it can go in any direction, and it is the very students we train who will set that path. I believe we should teach AI and encourage it in class. Teach students how to use it to their advantage. Instead of banning AI or using ChatGPT detectors, encourage its sound use and teach them how to formulate ideas with it professionally. Teach them how to use it to solve problems we cannot solve. And teach them to adapt it to answer their deepest questions in ways that set them apart. The successful students are those who learn to embrace AI and use it as the powerful tool that it is, not those who stay fastened to old ways and outdated societies.