"A dumb rich kid is more likely to graduate from college than a smart poor one and traditional teaching has not solved the problem of gaps in attainment," writes Donald Clark. However, he says, "we now have a solution that has been around for some time," albeit one that is firmly resisted by just about every human educator out there. It is, of course, AI-based learning support. "It will enable every student in the United States, and eventually on the planet, to effectively have a world-class personal tutor" says Salman Khan, thus effective solving what Benjamin Bloom called the two-sigma problem. Clark is not wrong, and while there is certainly potential for misuse and mis-application, we can nonetheless see (through the detailed list provided in this article) the many ways AI can be applied to improve learning, and more importantly, access to learning. Sure, it's not a scarce credential, like a Harvard diploma, and thus doesn't confer an immediate social advantage on everyone who gets an AI-assisted education. But if we're lucky, it will render the scarcity and prestige of a Harvard education meaningless. That's a problem for dumb rich kids, but for the rest of us, it's the future. If we want it. Image: Scientific American.
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