Artificial Intelligence is powering many aspects of our daily lives. Many, perhaps most, are good things. Cars that drive, or at least assist the driver, or merely watch the driver alerting her of distractions. A world of information is literally available for the asking. IVR hell is no longer escaped by a series of touch-tones. Instead you talk your way out. AI is solving math problems. Very. Difficult. Math.
What could possibly be next? Education comes to mind, but it isn't exactly new. And for every research article on the uses of AI in education there is an article suggesting that technology will never replace the classroom teacher. Most early uses of AI were indeed guide by the side of a sage on the stage providing automated grading and evaluation as well as tailored lesson planning. Perhaps the irreplaceability is based on the computer being impersonal and detached. But that may not tell the proper story and in any event it is changing.
We now have a small company with a very interesting product. A robo-tutor.
In the brave new world of pandemic non-school schools where your child's education is delivered to den why not have a robo-tutor? Why stare at some flat screen classmate mosaic mashup when you can have a real tutor delivering real lessons crafted by certified teachers? At some point the guides-by-the-sides will be AI powered personal education robots and sages-on-stages will be significantly better and not very thick on the ground.
Of course, this will never work in DeKalb County public schools.
For obvious reasons.
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