What AI Will Disrupt But Never Replace
by Jennifer Carolan
Nearly every day in my job as an edtech investor I’m asked this question: Will AI replace teachers? Will the teaching profession go the way of the scribe, made obsolete by AI?
Generative AI is revolutionary and already having a major impact on how we learn. However, as with most technological advances in education, the answer to how AI will impact education is nuanced.
Most change is incremental. But occasionally there is a breakthrough invention that results in a new platform that is so meaningfully better that it becomes the new normal. And it happens fast. For example, when Nike released the Vaporfly tech, runners sponsored by other brands painted their shoes black to wear it in secret. So successful was this new shoe technology that Vaporfly has been involved in every major running victory or milestone since 2016. It’s the new platform.
History has taught us that breakthrough technologies that expand access to learning can have an enormous impact by enabling more people to lift themselves out of poverty and live more enriching lives. But these breakthroughs are often met with fear and resistance.
