Learning from AI

ANALYSIS COMMENTARY

- BY ANGSHUMAN KAR

While reading a piece of news, I was suddenly reminded of my Class Five half yearly examination.

I was first in class, yet had scored only 59 in Mathematics. I was devastated. Our maths teacher, Murali Babu, comforted me saying, "You were in too much of a hurry. Made some silly mistakes. Don't lose heart. Maybe your score will flip in the annual exam." That reassurance worked like magic. It gave me strength. In the annual exam, I really scored 95 in Math. Another memory comes to mind.

I was then a postgraduate student. I had written an answer on a short essay by Orwell and went to my teacher, professor Rama Kundu, to see if the answer was correct. While discussing the errors in my answer, she delved deep into the world of Orwell's writings works I hadn't yet read. Our syllabus included only one essay by Orwell. But, just by showing her one answer, written on a question that might come in the exam from that essay, I ended up learning about novels like Animal Farm and 1984. Had I been taught by AI, would I ever have had such experiences? That's what I was wondering while reading the news that has expressed concern about college and university teachers soon becoming redundant because of AI.

The apprehension has actually been expressed by Sanjeev Sanyal, an economist and a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He has warned universities that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to upend higher education itself. In a recent podcast hosted by the Indian School of Business (ISB), Sanyal has said that AI would replace traditional undergraduate lectures by providing high-quality, individualised education at scale, frequently for free.