AI in education: will it help or hinder our children's learning?

The future of learning is no longer confined to classrooms. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to reshape education - from personalized tutoring to automated lesson plans.

As schools and universities adapt, teachers and students are learning to work alongside the technology that could redefine the classroom itself. 

With AI beginning to transform how students study, teachers teach, and knowledge itself is delivered, one of the leading countries revolutionizing education is China.

At the Web Summit in Lisbon, Joleen Liang, co-founder of Chinese firm Squirrel AI, told CGTN what her company has been doing in the field.  

She explained: "We have been using Al in diagnosing students' assessments, their knowledge state, and creating AI recommendations of their learning path. All the students can have personalized learning, and teachers have been retrained or upskilled with how to use AI tools."

AI can now power everything from digital teaching assistants to adaptive learning platforms that personalize lessons in real time.

Recent research predicts that global EdTech spending will soar from $187.1 billion in 2025 to $724.6 billion by 2035.

Opportunity and unease

As AI systems become virtual teachers capable of designing personalized lessons and monitoring student progress, for educators that shift brings both opportunity and unease.

John Dolman is a media studies teacher at Ponteland High School in northeast England and a leading proponent of AI use in education. According to Dolman, who writes a blog called 'The Ai English Teacher': "There is a big concern with educators - and I think with the population in general - that if you do allow something else to do more thinking for you, you begin to de-skill yourself and there's a real strong argument to be made there."

He added: "What you need to take the time to do is make sure that it challenges and extends your thinking, rather than substitutes it."

At the Web Summit, Squirrel's Joleen Liang says artificial intelligence can help close the global learning gap - not by replacing teachers, but by re-imagining their role.

She told delegates: "We still need teachers - they are so important - but teachers need to be there to monitor students, to do emotional communication, and to do interaction with the students. More important, the teachers should be analyzing the data learning behavior of each student's learning progress to guide the students."

Supporters believe AI technology can make quality education fairer - reaching students in remote areas, or providing extra help to those who need it. But there are concerns that too much automation could weaken the human connection at the heart of learning.

Dolman believes such concerns are overblown. "I don't think it can replace teachers because actually AI will never really have that relational capacity with students and it will never really know them that well and that's what teaching is about - generating those relationships and guiding students."

At the Web Summit, the debate continues - human versus machine, and who will own the classroom of tomorrow.