Google AI predicts over 2 million new crystals. Is this the future of material science?

How AI Is Shaping The Future Of Education

Hyperpersonalized education with AI in our near future

getty

Today's workers are dealing with the reality that while AI might not necessarily come for their jobs, workers with AI skills will certainly be replacing workers without AI skills. Given the future workforce needs to be AI-ready, how is this going to impact education and learning? More importantly, how is the increasing use and adoption of AI impacting today's teachers and students?

The education ecosystem is already seeing profound and disruptive change with AI providing new tools not only for educators and school administrators, but also for students who leverage AI tools to assist with their work and also let them dive deeper into material they need to understand.

AI-Enabled Learning: Self-Directed, Self-Paced, and Self-Empowering

Honing in on this hot topic, Sal Khan, known for his breakthrough Khan Academy and education leadership, writes about how AI is going to revolutionize education in his new book "Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing)". From Khan's positive perspective, he foresees that in the near future, AI will enable life-long learning by putting education access in the hands of anyone who wants to learn any topic. Students and educators will both use AI assistants that can educate and inform them on any topic at the required level of depth, and explain in a way that is most easily understood for each individual learner.

Furthering this idea, research firm Cognilytica writes about the concept of "Hyperpersonalized education" that will provide the lifelong learning we need from the moment we first learn how to speak and read, to the ongoing and continuous needs for education in our academic, work, and personal lives.

Indeed, we're already seeing the impact on AI from a learning perspective as people use Large Language Model (LLM) systems to answer questions and provide insights in a way that they used to do with web searching. As web searches have become polluted with search optimized results, clickbait articles, and too-long articles that most have no patience or attention to read, people are beginning to turn to AI-powered systems to provide direct, relevant, and context and level-appropriate responses to very specific needs. With this sort of power now in our hands, the current one-size-fits-all world of today's educational systems, online learning, videos, and online learning pales in comparison. For sure, the future of AI-enabled education is self-paced, self-directed, deeply responsive, and hyper personal to each learner's needs.

AI Challenges for Learning Institutions

Learning institutions from K-12 through higher education and beyond are grappling with both the opportunities of challenges with the expanding use of AI. When AI systems provide hyperpersonalized education at the fingertips of students, educators will need to rethink how they are ensuring that students retain material, learn critical life skills, and know how to apply those skills to a future in which AI is no doubt going to disrupt the workplace.

As a very reactionary approach, learning institutions have currently attempted to restrict or ban the use of AI on campuses and in learning environments. However this is an effort doomed to failure. With AI capabilities embedded on phones, devices, and in online and desktop applications of all sorts, even embedded in emerging operating systems, no doubt any attempts to ban the use of AI will simply backfire.

Rather than trying to stymie skills that today's students will need to learn in any case to survive in tomorrow's workforce, educators will need to embrace AI capabilities to create new forms of tailored educational content, provide AI-enhanced capabilities to make sure students are deeply engaged with the material and can apply that learning, as well as ensure that students are mastering critical AI skills that they can use in the future. Just as educators learned to embrace the Internet and web to enhance learning, so too will educators come to appreciate the necessary capabilities that AI brings to the table.

A Return of "Soft Skills"

Furthermore, as AI systems increasingly require human capabilities to extract more value, we'll see a resurgence in the value of so-called "soft skills" that are necessary to get full value from AI systems. To get value from generative AI prompts, people need to maximize their creativity, improve their critical thinking, increase collaboration with others, and improve their communication skills. These soft-skills have been put on the back burner over the past few decades as the "hard skills" of math, science, physics, biology, and engineering-related skills took center stage. Interestingly, it's AI that's making the soft skills more of a necessity so that people can use AI to help with the harder skills.

All of these changes to education come at a precipitous time for higher education. Already many are rethinking the value that a very expensive higher education can offer, especially from schools that have been typically considered prestigious. With a changing future workplace, changing ways in which people can get educated, and changing values for expensive higher education degrees, no doubt AI is poised to accelerate many of the fundamental changes in education.

THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION

At this year's Mobile World Congress held from February 26-29 in Barcelona, Spain, 41 sessions focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) were held. With over 90,000 attendees, this was one of the global events where a deep dive into this subject was conducted as more became interested in its growth, impact, and potential to change human lives.

Globally, AI is being touted as the game-changer in how commercial firms conduct their business operations with its limitless potential applications coming into play. According to leading professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), "AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined" That is a 14 percent increase in global GDP generated through AI.

"As humans and machines collaborate more closely, and AI innovations come out of the research lab and into the mainstream, the transformational possibilities are staggering," states PwC in their report, Sizing the Prize.

Among the sectors that will derive such "transformational possibilities" from this growing form of technology is education, where it can help educators analyse data quickly and efficiently thus leapfrogging learners and teachers from manual processes to machines. 

According to the 2023 Global Markets Insights report, AI in the education market reached $4 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow by more than 10 percent from 2023 to 2032, "owing to the growing inclination towards personalized learning".  According to the report, adoption of AI in the education market is growing through "comprehensive data collection and analysis for offering valuable insights to educators, administrators and policymakers".

With such growing attention toward AI, the April 2024 edition of the Mastercard Foundation's EdTech Mondays delved deeper into the role of this technology in education within the African framework.

"AI is transforming the global economy and will have a major impact in education. For example, we can teach machines how to mark exams while teachers take on higher roles," says Mutembei Kariuki, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Fastagger. "We are teaching machines to think and do things that humans do. Leaving AI to handle routine matters will then elevate teachers to where they are supposed to be, as mentors to the learners."

Kariuki's views are in line with the role played by AI, a phrase that has technology geeks' antennas up in the air but whose full impact is yet to be felt especially in developing countries. In education, AI presents opportunities and challenges—opportunities in that it can teach students new things with individualized perspectives. On the other hand, the key challenge for educators and policymakers is the need to change their mindsets to incorporate the new reality.

"AI is coming and is very disruptive as people grapple with what it can do," says Matthew Grollnek, Future of Work Lead at the Mastercard Foundation. "People are grappling with what it can do, while few know the answers. Some people think it is scary and that we will not be able to contain it. It will present a big shift as education moves to a new system replacing one that has been there for over 100 years. The question is how to maximize the benefits and address the risks."

However, lack of clear policy framework is a key impediment to the full realization of AI benefits in many African countries. As is the case in many areas of development, technological practices have been moving ahead of policy and forcing governments to play catch up. That though, is set to change as the African Union moves to assert its influence on AI deployment through the Continental Strategy on AI that has prioritized education and preservation of African languages as key sectors to benefit from this technology.

The AU strategy will address one key concern relating to the limited use of Africa datasets with the continent relying on processes developed from outside Africa. The African Union Digital Education Strategy and Implementation Plan, covering the 2023-2028 timeframe, has established a framework for engagement and acceleration of digital technologies to align with Africa's digital education.

The areas where technology, including AI, will be deployed include teaching, learning, research, assessment, and administration; strengthening digital literacy and skills for all, especially for teachers and students; and building the capacity of AU member states in requisite infrastructure for digital education.

Already some African countries are leapfrogging the process.  Rwanda, as an example, is the first African country to have an AI policy that acts as a roadmap to harness the benefits and mitigate associated risks, especially those associated with sharing children's data with those who should not have access to such information.

"AI is ready for some subjects including coding and some mathematical equations. This will reduce the workload for teachers, especially those trained on how to use it responsibly. It will also bring inclusion and equity to learners with various impairments since Africa lacks enough schools for children with special needs," says Christine Niyizamwiyitira, Scholar in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University.

According to the Mastercard Foundation's Young Africa Works strategy, by 2030, Africa's workforce will reach a billion people, with 375 million young people entering the job market. These will require a shift in education strategies, and AI programs could equip them with new skill sets needed in the job market.

As the panelists stated, AI will not replace teachers but enhance their role to include the ability to curate learning experiences while holistically supporting a learner's growth and emotional well-being in the classroom. The future of AI in education is indeed now.

Watch April's Edtech Mondays episode on Artificial Intelligence in Education

AI Causes Worries About Job Market, Value Of Higher Education

(TNS) — David Kim, a UNC-Chapel Hill senior and computer science major, had submitted 326 job applications as of mid-spring. He had only reached the interview round for three of them.

Kim said this is normal for computer science majors like himself, who are still applying for jobs with graduation around the corner. He said some of his classmates have applied to around 1,000 jobs and are still waiting to hear back.

Kim said career competitiveness is often attributed to the economy and job market, but it also points to a newer wave of technology: artificial intelligence.

AI works to have equal, or even higher, intelligence to humans when solving problems. That kind of advanced technology is financially attractive to businesses, Kim said.

"We'll see how [companies] try to automate the jobs away," he said. "I think from an economic standpoint, [AI] is definitely going to take away some jobs. And that's scary."

Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, a UNC professor in the School of Information and Library Science, studies the relationship between humans and AI in the workforce. To him, the threat of AI boils down to one concept: self-learning.

"[AI systems] are adaptive in their learning, and that is the source of opportunity and source of threats," Jarrahi said. "Because if they're learning really well, what's going to happen to me? If they're learning somehow independent of me as a knowledge worker, then what is my contribution?"

Jarrahi said that blue-collar jobs are usually at risk from new technology and automation, but this new wave of AI affects degree-seeking knowledge workers as well — a group that was thought to be immune, Jarrahi said.

"If you're not worried, you're probably not paying attention," Jarrahi said.

Kim said it's difficult to predict the future, but he knows he will have to find ways to compete in the evolving job market now influenced by AI.

"I think for the industry, [AI] is actually good. But for a graduating senior — or even a junior, a sophomore computer science student now, or even graduating high school students who might want to study computer science — that's a pretty big worry," Kim said. "I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't think anyone does. But we'll have to adapt somehow, like always."

UNDERGRADUATE UNCERTAINTY The fear of AI replacing jobs isn't just affecting computer science students.

As a UNC sophomore, Sarayu Thondapu has already had multiple conversations about AI's impact on her future.

Thondapu is currently studying economics and political science on the pre-law track. During her winter break at home in Charlotte, her uncle told her to be wary of AI's potential impact on legal professions. For example, the AI program LegalGPT can perform similar tasks to legal assistants or paralegals.

Scott Geier, a professor in the Hussman School of Media and Journalism at UNC, said that junior attorneys, for example, are at risk of losing their jobs because AI can complete the same tasks, like reviewing documents and writing briefs.

"Anything that involves analyzing information and doing so quickly and efficiently, AI can already do that better. So it's going to be better, faster and cheaper," Geier said. "And if something is better, faster and cheaper, they're gonna do the robot."

Now, AI leaves Thondapu questioning her career.

"I wanted to go into law to be someone that can help people, someone that can truly connect with the cases that I'm working with and can be of assistance toward them, and I wouldn't leave them out to dry," Thondapu said. "I guess I worry that if I end up relying on ChatGPT or artificial intelligence too much, I kind of forget the reason why I'm there in the first place."

Halfway through Thondapu's undergraduate experience, she thinks about her future graduation and often wonders if it will all be worth it.

"We spent four years of our lives at an undergraduate institution. We worked our butts off. We did a lot to get to the places we're at and we gained a lot of experience," Thondapu said. "But then to realize that something that we're responsible for creating might actually end up dashing all our efforts, I definitely think that's really scary."

Due to her "survival mentality," she said she is now incorporating technology classes and a data science credential into her studies to be competitive in the job market and help secure her future.

"I think this is something that we've all come to terms with: We need to know something about computers to basically exist in a world like this," Thondapu said.

However, she said she fears that with too much attention on computers, this generation will forget how to communicate with passion and humanity. As a result, Thondapu added a creative writing minor to her studies to compete with AI.

Kim also considered altering his graduation plans. He said he originally focused on job applications related to software engineering and web development, but after this wave of AI, he became interested in applying to more machine learning roles.

But it's still a change he said he has to think about, as these roles often require additional schooling, time and money.

AI VS. COLLEGE DEGREES The value of college degrees has always been debated, Jarrahi said. However, higher education's value in the era of AI adds new twists to the argument.

Google offers career certificates to anyone interested in the technology space, with no prior experience necessary. Their website advertises the programs as a real path to in-demand jobs in under six months.

It costs less than college, takes less time, and Google said the program is worth the same as a four-year degree, Geier said.

Some may think, '"College costs too much. It's not worth the sticker price,"' Geier said. "And people are starting to come to realize that if AI now is part of the equation, that's just going to accelerate that mindset."

Duke University now offers a degree program for AI learning: Duke's AI Master of Engineering program.

Jared Bailey is the current president of Duke's AI Competition Club and a student in the master's program, which costs $75,877 in tuition for the typical 12-month duration: two semesters and a summer session.

The program includes other flexible education options like an extended track of 16 months, which costs up to $95,000, and the online program for 24 months, which costs $98,970.

But Bailey believes the program is worth it.

"A smart student investigates to understand if their education will have a fair return on investment," he said. "I do not see a world where students are unable to find fields to pursue which offer a fair return."

Duke's AI program website posted that the degree will provide "great graduate outcomes" in jobs around engineering and data science.

Bailey said AI has the potential to help other industries, not just in science, engineering or technology. He said one classmate in the program is a medical doctor who uses computer vision to identify diseases in high-resolution photos.

Bailey related the advancements of AI to the creation of the camera, the Internet and personal computers. He said although they all received initial pushback, they ended up enhancing the work of humanity.

"Duke has largely embraced student use of AI," Bailey said. "When I was younger, educators pushed back on student use of calculators and the Internet. It's refreshing to see Duke take a different stance and embrace this new technology."

AI is here to enhance our work and not compete with it, he said.

EMBRACING AI Professional editor Erin Servais believes that humans can collaborate with AI, and she's even incorporated it into her career.

Servais has edited professionally, from line editing to developmental editing, since 2008. Last year, Servais' career changed when she used ChatGPT to copy edit for the first time.

"I was so shocked by how accurate and fast it was," Servais said. "And I knew that it was going to have big effects on our profession. I knew that immediately, the very first time I tried it."

She then created the course "AI for Editors" to prepare and educate editors on how AI programs like ChatGPT are reshaping the profession.

Because ultimately, AI is replacing editors, she said.

"People are losing their jobs to artificial intelligence and in a really just unintelligent way," Servais said. "It's not a good thing, and it's not going to help readers; it's not going to help the writers; it's not going to help anyone."

But if editors learn how to use AI, editing can be more accurate and efficient for organizations, she said. An editor with knowledge of AI may have better job security and value in the workplace, she said.

The next evolution of jobs will revolve around guiding AI programs and checking their work rather than manually making the changes in a document, Servais said. But humanity is still essential, she said.

"We don't want AI to do our jobs because we still need to double check it and make sure that what it is producing is quality and factual. And humans are needed for that still," Servais said.

Geier said AI might take on the heavy lifting in most professional spaces, but with human oversight as well. But he said it will be in a gradual way.

He doesn't think that students graduating now will lose a job because of AI, as long as they prepare. Those who don't learn about AI, however, will be left behind, he said.

Geier said students need to give themselves "an edge" by working with AI in a way others can't. And that's what universities need to be teaching, he said.

"You've got to make yourself relevant with using AI in currently what you're doing," Geier said. "The way it's going to be is when you come out of here, the employers are going to ask, 'Can some rando, some stranger off the street, come in and do the same job that [a student] is doing just by writing a prompt into AI?' If the answer is yes, you're out of a job."

UNC Media Hub is a collection of students from the various concentrations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media working together to create integrated multimedia packages covering stories from around North Carolina and beyond.

©2024 Raleigh News & Observer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

---