“Imagine how great universities could be without all those human teachers” by Allison Schrager and Amy X. Wang
For my post this evening, while there were many great articles to choose from, I decided to look at an article found on Quarz.com by Allison Schrager and Amy X. Wang that discusses the implication of artificial intelligence (AI) in the university setting, specifically operating in the role of a teacher and assistant.
The main argument both authors present is the belief that AI could one day substantially reduce the budgetary costs at universities and college by replacing much of the institutions’ human staff with AI, capable of completing the same measure of work (or better). I agree with the argument to an extent. While I believe AI can and should become more applicable to the university setting, the idea of machines completely replacing professors, especially those of the liberal arts, seems somewhat absurd at this stage in the development of AI.
In presenting supporting evidence, the article by the authors does provide some convincing evidence worth noting. First, it has become apparent that college degrees have become the “standard entry point to jobs,” forcing modern high school students to often pursue college simply for filling a box on an application or resume (Schrager & Wang, 2017). Additionally, despite that student populations are higher than ever before in the U.S., over half of university students complete their four-year degrees in four-years or less nowadays (Schrager & Wang, 2017). As students drop their admission to institutions for a variety of circumstances or reasons, AI offers insight into the data analytics of student performance—able to spot which students may soon drop out of their program (Schrager & Wang, 2017).
The second element presented in the article in favor of their argument is in the human-machine interaction between the AI teacher’s assistant “Jill Watson” and the students of the class. The realization that—for a period—students were unable to notice who they were speaking to was not human, paints an incredible example in the rate of advancement AI has undergone in the past decade (Schrager & Wang, 2017).
As a final testament to the benefits AI may place in higher education is the ability for AI to reach more people beyond the traditional classroom. Ashok Goel mentions that “about half” of the world’s population does not “have access to [a] good education” (Schrager & Wang, 2017). Although AI may not reach the capabilities of a real professor, the opportunity for people around the world to have access to a decent education is worthwhile.
There are two major arguments critics hold that contest the authors’ thesis. First, higher education is simply not prepared for, nor fully understands the impact AI may have on the higher education setting. Dan Shewan’s article, “Robots will destroy our jobs…,” in The Guardian presents the more ominous effects of automation, even if not strictly within the higher education space. Approximately “two-thirds of Americans believe that robots will inevitably perform most of the work currently done by human being [in] the next 50 years” (Shewan, 2017). While robotics has started primarily in the low-skill job market, as machine-learning continues the develop the abilities of modern AI, medium-skill tasks performed by secretaries, janitorial staff, student assistance, and tutors will gradually occur, leaving hundreds-of-thousands of people with reduced opportunities to find employment without acquiring new training, skills, and possibly, more higher education learning (i.e. earning another bachelor’s degree).
The second major argument against overuse of AI, especially regarding the idea of replacing professors, is the factor of destroying “inspiration” in the classroom and university setting (Schrager & Wang, 2017). Further, evidence of a breakthrough of using AI in the classroom is “limited;” the tech has not been adopted in enough university settings to make conclusions of its effectiveness or actual role in the classroom of higher education (Schrager & Wang, 2017).
References
Schrager, Allison, & Wang, Amy X. (2017, September). Imagine how great universities could be without all those human teachers. Accessed at https://qz.com/1065818/ai-university/
Shewan, Dan, (2017, January). Robots will destroy our jobs – and we’re not ready for it. Accessed at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/robots-jobs-employees-artificial-intelligence.
Social Informatics: A Perspective 