It's only a matter of time before A.I. chatbots are teaching in primary schools

• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates saying generative AI chatbots can teach kids to read in 18 months rather than years.
• Artificial intelligence is beginning to prove that it can accelerate the impact teachers have on students and help solve a stubborn teacher shortage.
• Chatbots backed by large language models can help students, from primary education to certification programs, self-guide through voluminous materials and tailor their education to specific learning styles.

When asked, you can probably name one or two teachers that positively impacted you — and what made them special. Now, artificial intelligence is beginning to prove that it can accelerate the impact teachers have on students and help solve a stubborn teacher shortage.

AI is already sending waves throughout education, with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates saying AI chatbots can teach kids to read in 18 months rather than years. Younger generations are surrounded by digital tools, and experts say it's only a matter of time before classrooms are immersed in AI.

While there are risks to incorporating AI tools in the classroom, such as the increased likelihood of cheating among students and job disruption for teachers, especially college professors, Sarah Guo, founder and managing partner at early-stage venture capital firm Conviction, said these reactions present a valid yet narrow view.

"The broader context of what [AI] could mean is it'll dramatically improve the efficacy of education, dramatically reduce cost, make education more equitable, give people global opportunity, and increase productivity and knowledge," she said.

AI for routine learning, teachers for personalized lessons

AI, and specifically chatbots backed by programmed large language models, can help students, from primary education to certification programs, self-guide through voluminous materials and tailor their education to specific learning styles.

Many students currently don't have a personalized learning experience to fit their needs because there aren't enough teachers to facilitate this, said Danny King, CEO and co-founder at Accredible, a digital credentialing platform that works with customers including Google, Harvard, MIT, and McGraw Hill. The existing pool of teachers, he added, are often so overworked that they don't have enough time to address individual students.

AI can fill this gap by removing teachers from repetitive or routine learning, like having kids copy out of a textbook while teachers write terms on a whiteboard, and instead have teachers focus on what makes them impactful in students' lives.

"A lot of rote teaching can be taken away and delegated to technology," King said. With the rise of AI, teachers can transition from being a general practitioner to more of a specialist, where they can focus on helping kids with particular issues and specific concepts, he added.

If students engage with materials largely through AI-backed methods, one teacher can oversee multiple classrooms at once because students won't need a teacher always standing in front of them, King said. "Teachers won't need to be distributors of knowledge, because AI can automate that," he added.

An alternative to 'insanely expensive' tutoring 

With chatbots and AI-backed programs constantly learning from the information provided to them, teaching will not only be personalized to a student's need, but this information can give teachers more data about their students and generate material instantaneously.

"It's time intensive to teach, when you think about answering student questions, giving specific feedback on why they're getting a problem incorrect, or showing them how to improve their answers," Guo said. "With AI, you can draft different forms of teaching materials, and generate quiz questions in minutes instead of laboring over it."

AI can also help teachers leverage existing knowledge and content, so they can repurpose it and dramatically reduce their workload, Guo said.

Additionally, one teacher can give focused, impactful help to students that need it, because AI will be able to tell educators which areas or topics a student needs the most help with, King said.

And while personalized tutoring has existed for decades, and can be incredibly impactful, Guo said "It's just insanely expensive."

With the incorporation of AI in the classroom, personalized help makes education more equitable and decreases the number of students left behind, and Guo said, "we can use AI to increase access to quality education and then amplify the incredible work that teachers do."