It’s a boon to education, but can’t replace teachers
BENGALURU: Be it in the classroom or on smart phones, applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) seem endless in personalising the process of learning — but not as a replacement for teachers, say experts.
With the onset of Industry 4.0, educational institutions and private firms are increasingly investing in AI mechanisms. Teachers are being trained to stay abreast with developments in technology or risk turning their institutes obsolete.
Jyothi Shenoy, senior faculty, Department of Computer Science, UVCE, which recently trained about 100 teachers in AI, pointed at the inseparability of AI and research subjects that students take up. “Over the past decade, the department has increasingly seen PhD students, 150 so far, incorporate some elements of AI in their theses. Even processes like mechanical production and manufacturing are taught from the perspective of Industry 4.0 and AI,” she said.
Pointing at how AI can potentially revolutionise education, Kunal Aman, head of marketing from SAS India, a leading analytics software firm, said AI has the ability to personalise learning and there are a number of investors stepping into the education field, apart from the popular automobile and industry segment. “For instance,” he said, “With grades being assessed by AI and machine learning, one could find trends in the answer papers and check which chapters needed to be revised with them.” The technology helps understand a student’s pace of learning -- which is possibly integrated in learning apps prevalent today.
This whole module of learning by using gadgets will eventually percolate into classrooms, he said. “However, the teacher’s role of supporting the student doesn’t seem likely to be replaced by a computer,” he said. In another case, he said, with natural language processing, AI might even allow long-form answers to be analysed and evaluated on a computer programme, just like multiple-choice questions are assessed on an OMR sheet, thereby reducing hours for correcting papers, and increasing time in the classroom, he said.
But with greater technology integration, comes an equal share of risk. While AI has grown as a real-time and integral mechanism for cyber security in a slew of arenas -- including retail banking, automobile, and governance -- Sunil B, CEO of Cyqurex, a cybersecurity venture, says the education sector is yet to integrate AI in security. “One of the prominent areas is Intellectual Property Rights, wherein proprietary research and curriculum data is prone to being stolen. In such a case, AI could trigger threat protection alerts,” he warns.