In a recent Fortune article, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn sparked a heated debate by claiming that in the future, schools may exist primarily for childcare, while AI takes over the teaching.
While the comment stirred controversy (especially among instructors, teachers who feel devalued) it also raises important questions:
- How far can AI go in education?
- And more importantly, how should we, as instructors respond and behave?
As someone passionate about online learning and educational innovation, I’ve taught AI to hundreds of corporate teams in person, and I’ve seen firsthand how AI can actually :
- create lazy people
- make people less capable of reasoning
- abandoning slowly their faculty of thinking .by themselves.
While AI can be a powerful support tool, it should never be a replacement. Real teaching involves empathy, nuance, and the ability to challenge assumptions, something AI is still far from mastering.
Platforms like Udemy should demonstrate the real value of human-created courses when combined with smart, intentional use of technology. Not blind dependence on it. But, I have to say I am starting being concerned about the future changes …
- The key isn’t to fear AI, of course. It is already everywhere.
- We, as instructors, and I guess partners, have to think how to shape its role thoughtfully.
- Let’s use it to empower instructors and help them
- For the students to personalize learning paths
- To enhance accessibility
- not to erase the human touch that makes education meaningful.
