AI Will Change Education Forever | Possible Podcast

Summary

The speakers discuss how advanced AI could revolutionize and amplify human potential globally, especially in education. They envision personalized, inspiring AI tutors that adapt to each student's needs and interests. This could free up teachers to focus more on actual teaching and mentoring. Though initially met with resistance, teachers now increasingly embrace AI's potential. The speakers emphasize technology's role in lifting humanity up and believe their work can help the broader population. They aim for an assistive, empowering future between humans and AI, avoiding replacement.

Takeaways

• 😊 Sam believes technology helps advance society and lift people out of poverty
• 😀 Sam envisions AI tutors that provide personalized education to every student
• 📚 Daniel sees AI already being integrated into classrooms to help teachers
• 👩‍🏫 Initially, teachers worried AI would replace them but now see it as helping
• 📈 Daniel thinks real economic growth stems from technological progress
• 🔬 Anthropic's AI can help advance fields like education and medicine globally
• 😌 Teachers can spend less time on drudgery and more time with students thanks to AI
• 🎓 Khan Academy uses AI to provide free, high quality education to anyone
• 💡 Daniel's brother struggled as a teacher to develop fresh, tailored content
• 📚 personalized AI tutors can help generate content tailored to specific teaching contexts

Q & A

What backup career was Daniel considering if AI didn't work out?

Daniel was considering starting a programming education company focused on personalized and inspired teaching if AI didn't work out.

How could AI tutors help provide quality education?

AI tutors could provide personalized teaching, inspiration, and motivation to every student, tailored to their needs and interests.

How is Khan Academy using AI currently?

Khan Academy is deploying GPT-4 to provide personalized tutoring while also guiding students properly by not simply doing their homework.

What role does Daniel see technology playing in helping humanity?

Daniel believes technological progress enables sustainable economic growth which helps lift the standard of living for everyone globally.

Why were teachers initially resistant to AI grading technology?

Teachers worried AI grading would replace them and hinder development of critical thinking in students.

How are teachers using AI technology now?

Teachers integrate AI tools like ChatGPT into lessons to enhance teaching rather than replace it.

How could technology help amplify teachers?

By automating grading and administrative tasks, technology gives teachers more time to directly help students.

How could AI assist with creating personalized teaching content?

AI could dynamically generate fresh content tailored to specific students and contexts vs static question banks.

What was the arc of perception towards AI in education?

It went from claims it would ruin education to embracing it as the future of education.

How did Daniel's brother find it difficult to teach?

Lesson planning and finding meaningful homework questions was difficult with reliance on static banks of generic questions.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Discussing how AI can revolutionize education and amplify teachers

This paragraph discusses how AI like GPT-4 can revolutionize education by providing every student a personalized tutor 24/7 for free. It talks about Khan Academy using GPT-4, and how technology can motivate students by understanding what excites them. The hosts also discuss how AI can amplify teachers by helping with grading, allowing them to spend more time with students.

😊 Believing technological progress enables economic growth; forgetting this harms society

This paragraph expresses a belief that sustainable economic growth stems from technological advances. The speaker feels we've forgotten this to some degree as a society, but remembering it is important. They believe their work with AI can lift up all 7 billion people similarly to how past technologies have, just on a greater scale.

🤝 Teachers becoming advocates for AI technology in classrooms

This paragraph discusses how teacher reception to AI grading tools has evolved from negative to supportive. Teachers now actively integrate such tools into lessons and advocate for them, realizing it's the future of education rather than the end. The hosts feel this arc will repeat across fields as AI amplifies human capabilities.

😌 AI assistants can create tailored teaching content, helping stressed teachers

This paragraph relates how the speaker's brother struggled as a teacher creating engaging content. Now AI can help by dynamically generating personalized materials for specific teaching objectives and contexts, reducing teacher workload and stress.

Keywords

💡education

The video discusses innovations in education, such as using AI tutors that can provide personalized teaching and inspiration to each student. The speakers envision a future where every student has access to an engaging, motivating tutor that helps them learn. Examples from the script include discussing Khan Academy's use of GPT-4 in the classroom and how technology can 'reach global scale and figure out how to get the best out of people'.

💡teachers

The video talks about how teachers initially resisted educational AI, worrying it would replace them, but now many advocate for it. Speakers give examples of AI helping teachers by grading work, planning lessons, and creating fresh, tailored content. The script emphasizes this being an 'amplification future', with technology assisting rather than replacing teachers.

💡economic growth

Speakers link technological progress to economic growth, stating that 'all or at least almost all real sustainable economic growth comes from technological progress'. The message is that advancing technology, like their AI work, helps drive broad economic gains.

💡technological progress

Technological progress is positioned as the key driver of economic growth and societal gains. Speakers believe innovating with AI can 'help the other 7 billion people' by accelerating technological progress, similar to past technologies that have 'lifted everybody up'.

💡personalized learning

The vision described for the future of education involves highly personalized AI tutors that motivate students by understanding individual needs. This allows providing inspiration and teaching tailored to each student's specific interests and context.

💡global access

Speakers enthuse about the potential for AI edtech to be provided globally, envisioning every student accessing a great tutor '24/7, whenever they want for free'. There is excitement about innovating systems that can 'reach global scale'.

💡assistive technology

The messaging around AI and teachers emphasizes it as an 'assistive technology' that amplifies rather than replaces. Examples given include helping with grading, planning lessons, and creating content. The goal is human-AI collaboration.

💡economic benefits

Driving economic growth through technological gains that raise productivity and efficiency is presented as a major benefit of AI innovation. The economic gains are seen as widely distributed to help 'the other 7 billion people'.

💡education reform

There is a focus on innovating solutions to broadly reform and improve education, such as addressing issues like standardized testing constraints. The excitement is about fundamentally upgrading how teaching and learning happen.

💡AI tutors

The concept of AI systems that can tutor students is discussed extensively, with examples like Khan Academy using GPT-3 technology. The vision is AI that inspires, motivates, and tailors instruction to each student's needs and interests.

Highlights

If we weren't going to successfully start an AI company, one of my backups was to do a programming education company.

Imagine if you could give that kind of teacher to every student 24/7, whenever they want for free.

Khan Academy is really starting to take GPT-4 and deploy it in the classroom and really figure out how to steer this technology.

All or at least almost all real sustainable economic growth comes from technological progress.

Technology is how we lift everybody up.

Get resistance because teachers worry that they're going to get replaced because you're going to have the AI tutors.

Really helping with grading, and that kind of thing that can spend more time actually with the students.

It's an application future not a replacement future.

Teachers are now, on the whole, some of the biggest advocates of this technology requiring their students to use it integrating it in all sorts of creative ways.

Chat GPT is only like four and a half months old and so it has already gone through the arc of people saying "This is the end of education!" to "This is the future of education!"

I think we will see that in other fields in all sorts of ways.

It's hard to be a teacher. Like, it's hard to actually come up with like fresh content that's really tailored to your students too.

I think that we're starting to see technology that's actually able to help with that and kind of for whatever thing you want to do that's tailored to your specific context it's it's now possible.

One of my brothers used to be a teacher and I remember seeing how he would plan his lessons and get his homework problems and you know there's these static banks of of questions that you just kind of pull from

We're starting to see technology that's actually able to help with that and kind of for whatever thing you want to do that's tailored to your specific context it's it's now possible.

Transcripts

Talk a little bit about, because I I  kind of want to go all the way down  

to something like really basic like,  talk a little bit about education,  

medicine. You know, like, what are some  of the advances there that you could see  

across the entire world? Because I think we  see line of sight to some of those right now.

Yeah I think education for me is one that  I'm extremely interested in actually. If  

we weren't going to uh successfully start  an AI company, one of my backups was to  

do a programming education company, because  I think the way that you teach people today

like everyone has a story about that  one teacher who really understood them,  

who took the time to get to know them, learn what  motivated them, and you know just like really  

inspired them to do more. And imagine if you could  give that kind of teacher to every student 24/7

Whenever they want for free. Like, that  it's still a little bit science fiction  

but it's much less science  fiction than it used to be.

And you can look at things like Khan Academy  who are really starting to take GPT-4 and  

deploy it in the classroom and really  figure out how to steer this technology  

so that it's a helpful tutor that if  kid asks for "Oh just do my homework  

for me!" it'll say "No no I don't do that."  but you know you know really tries to probe  

to figure out what they're excited about  and how to how to really motivate them.

And so I think that this kind  of technology of just reaching  

global scale and figuring out how  do you get the best out of people

like, that is the realm that  we're starting to enter now.

To zoom back a little bit from that and  touch on something that Reid said earlier.  

A thing that I really deeply believe  is that all or at least almost all,  

but maybe all, real sustainable economic  growth comes from technological progress.

And I think we have somewhat and and maybe  the sort of the social - socio-political  

institutions and culture that help  us get that technological progress...  

I think we've kind of forgotten  that to varying degrees of society,  

but I think it's like very important  and very true and good not to forget.  

And so the way that I think what we're doing  helps the the other seven billion people is not  

not that different. I mean, and hopefully be  greater in magnitude than previous technologies,  

but it's technology is kind  of how we lift everybody up.

You know one of the things that happens, you know,  

is like take the education field which we all  feel very strongly and passionately about.

You get resistance because teachers worry that  they're going to get replaced because you're  

going to have the AI tutors. Let's talk a little  bit of how teachers are going to be amplified.

I think one obvious one that I've  already talked to both of you about  

is really helping with grading, and that  kind of things that can send more time  

actually with the students. Say a little bit  about like what this amplification means for  

teachers and it's part of the reason  why this would be a future that they  

would want and to be steering towards. It's an  application future not a replacement future.

Yeah I think this is actually a great example.  Because of the arc it's gone through. Started off:  

the reception was almost universally negative  from teachers. "This is going to end the take-home  

essay. It's going to end what I have to do  here. It's going to make my students not think."

Teachers are now, on the whole,  some of the biggest advocates of  

this technology requiring their  students to use it integrating  

it in all sorts of creative ways  into part of their lesson plans.

But this is like really happening and in a big  way now in classrooms and Chat GPT is only like  

four and a half months old and so it has  already gone through the arc of people  

saying "This is the end of education!"  to "This is the future of education!"

And I think we will see that in  other fields in all sorts of ways.

I was - just to add to that - yeah. One of my  brothers used to be a teacher and I remember  

seeing how he would plan his lessons and get  his homework problems and you know there's  

these static banks of of questions that you just  kind of pull from and you know that there's all  

these questions about teaching to the test and all  these issues that it's hard to be a teacher. Like,  

it's hard to actually come up with like fresh  content that's really tailored to your students  

too. What you want to accomplish and  I think that we're starting to see  

technology that's actually able to help  with that and kind of for whatever thing  

you want to do that's tailored to your  specific context it's it's now possible.

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