Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace our teachers?

All the while we thought that this situation only happens in the movies or in the
realm of science fiction but Artificial intelligence is advancing itself into the different
agencies of human institutions. Though, this might not sound alarming and threatening
to us humans or does it foretell humanity doomsday, but this machine has become
commonplace now in this age of information.

Do we really need to be alarmed with the onset of AI in our society? What

happens to our teachers if they will be supplanted by AI? What are the merits and
demerits of this technology in the field of education? Will it replace human agency as the
noblest profession?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

An online article defines Artificial intelligence as a wide ranging branch of

computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks
that typically require human intelligence. According to authors Stuart Russell and Peter
Norvig (2021) in their groundbreaking book: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach ,
AI is the study of agents that receive precepts from the environment and perform actions.

From the way they describe the nature of AI, the authors have underscored the
idea that the same is still human controlled or agents from their environment who can
dictate and manipulate their actions. With the authors’ premise of its nature, education
as an agent of societal transformation is still the main “technology-driver” in operating
and controlling these machines. Humans still have the control and power to manipulate
how these machines work in their adaptive environment. On the other hand with the
growing research on AI and newer features of becoming more human who can handle
complicated and complex tasks have been programmed in their internal memory to
simulate if not to replicate human thinking and actions. Machines, though human
controlled could do as much if not exceed human effort in doing mental, physical and
social activities of man. A classic example can be drawn from the banking and contact
industries where inquiries and receiving calls and answering them have been embedded
in their central processing units where formulaic answers and habitual responses are
automatically generated for the human receivers. Emails are answered and generated by
machines, simple operations like answering calls, dispensing and receiving payments and
bills and doing simple tasks like computing and generating answers for human learners
have become conspicuous these days.

Where does it leave us --teachers? Are we still relevant in this age of machines.
Teachers since time immemorial have played dramatic roles in influencing and shaping
lives of the citizens. Their meticulous attention to the need of each and every learner --
knowing their learners’ individual needs and idiosyncrasies are far more complex than
what machines can do. The gentle, caring words and gestures of a teacher is
irreplaceable. Their kind words-- gentle and tender ways of soothing a child’s ego and
pain could never be replicated by any man-made machine more so with AI.

Although, human nature has biological limitations brought by age and other
extraneous factors -- but the compassionate and generous ways of a human being have
more impact if not benefit to a learner who like his human teacher has strange and
ineffable manner of touching lives than man-made machines like AI.

References

The History of Artificial Intelligence. https://www.afiniti.com/news/detail/history-of-

artificial-intelligence-infographic?gclid=CjwKCAjwzt6LBhBeEiwAbPGOgVh97nvMJZH-
RBVPmT0Znfqrc6tsrHVr6pgRrciX95BHsaEfKrW24hoCBk0QAvD_BwE. Accessed on October
24, 2021

Norvig, Peter and Stuart Russel (2021). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach .
Pearson Series. New York, USA