This post indicates something I’ve been saying for a while. Gen Alpha will be the AI generation.

For them, talking to an AI will be as natural as talking to a human. They will grow up being entertained by AI, learning through AI, and living alongside AI.

This is incredibly… pic.twitter.com/2CwYCxFbbv

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 24, 2024

This is incredibly exciting, and while I’m not blind to the drawbacks that can occur from this, the potential of children learning from a source that never gets tired or agitated is very exciting. 

What can a child learn from a source that has this deep of a well of knowledge and freely gives that information out at the asking and never tired of questions? What kind of enthusiasm for learning could that create?

AI is the future of education and Gen Alpha will be the first to experience it.

There are certainly reasons for optimism. AI can create adaptive learning systems that tailor educational content to individual student needs, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. AI algorithms can customize lessons and learning paths based on student performance:

AI is already playing a role in many classrooms and has promising benefits that can be integrated now and in the future.

Intelligent tutors: What if an AI program could play the role of a teacher or coach, leading students through lessons and even motivating them? Nancye Black, founder of the Block Uncarved and project lead for ISTE’s AI Explorations program, says AI can support learners in a variety of ways. As a Columbia University researcher, she’s exploring how avatar interactions impact students. “There is some really promising research around the use of AI agents supporting girls and students of color, who are able to — in a lower-risk situation — ask for help and have social learning, even when they are learning independently,” Black says.

Reading workshops: If educators could host reading workshops around the classroom with each individual student, they would. Instead, AI-powered products such as Microsoft’s Immersive Reader can help educators focus on improving education for the 1 in 7 learners who have a disability, Tholfsen says. The product uses text decoding solutions to individualize instruction.

Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor is an example of how AI can aid in education. It assists students in mathematics by adjusting its approach to the learning level of the student.

Using these tools, educators can improve engagement while also offering valuable insights into student performance.

However, I do have some concerns.

One does not need to have seen all the “Terminator” movies to understand how relying on technology can bring about unintended consequences. This is especially true when it comes to molding young minds.

We have already seen a full-court press to use government-run schools to indoctrinate children into progressive ideology. School districts are actively influencing young minds to accept warped ideas on gender identity, racial matters, and others.

How much worse will this problem be when educators can use artificial intelligence to boost their indoctrination efforts? I’ve used AI to conduct research many times, and it is evident to me that it has a clear, left-wing bias in many cases, an issue I explored in a prior article. Google’s AI tool has exhibited a clear bias, as discussed by RedState’s Mike Miller.

Artificial intelligence would be a highly effective way to influence young minds, especially if it is used under the guise of education. Fortunately, there are ways to counteract this, but it involves extra parental involvement to ensure that the technology isn’t trying to convince their children that people can change their gender or that America is full of white supremacists salivating at the thought of lynching Black people.

But here’s the catch: Much of the indoctrination efforts in schools have been successful because most parents are not aware of what their children are being taught in the classroom. We will have to continue waking people up to this agenda, so that AI cannot be used to advance it.

Of course, there are also concerns about privacy and data security. If AI is going to adapt itself to learning patterns for individual students, it will need quite a bit of data to do so. This can include personal information, academic records, behavioral patterns, and even biometric data.

Educational institutions have increasingly become targeted for cyberattacks, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In recent years, cyberattacks on K-12 schools have increased. Not only do these attacks disrupt educational instruction and school operations, they also impact students, their families, and teachers.

The scale and number of attacks increased during COVID-19 as more schools moved to remote learning and increased their reliance on IT services.

It is also worth mentioning the potential impact of an overreliance on technology. Using these tools in moderation can be helpful. But an excessive reliance on AI for problem-solving can potentially diminish the development of critical thinking and analytical skills, which are important for youngsters.

AI couldt also replace certain teaching functions, which might reduce meaningful interactions between teachers and their students. These interactions are critical for social and emotional development.

All in all, AI technology can be a great boon for education. In the future, it will likely become a staple in academia. However, parents must exercise a level of caution and ensure they are actively involved in the learning process, otherwise, Skynet won’t have to create robots to destroy humanity – we might bring about our own destruction.