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- David Game College will let some students learn with AI tools instead of teachers from next month.
- ChatGPT and LLMs will help 20 students prepare for exams in subjects like mathematics and biology.
- While some experts say AI can be a helpful learning tool, it cannot yet replace teachers.
A high school in London is replacing teachers with AI tools such as ChatGPT to help some students prepare for exams.
In the pilot scheme at David Game College starting in September, 20 students who are about 15 years of age will use AI tools for a year before taking their GCSE exams. The subjects will include English, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and computer science.
John Dalton, coprincipal of the fee-paying school, told Business Insider: "Students will benefit enormously from AI-powered adaptive learning, which allows every student to learn at their own pace rather than having to keep pace with a class, which often progresses too quickly for some students and too slowly for others."
The students will also be supported by three full-time learning coaches, and will receive personalized learning paths.
Dalton said AI-enabled learning will allow students to spend more time on a topic to master it, while also letting those who are ready to move on progress more quickly. It might also be helpful for students to ask the AI-powered learning assistant questions that they might not feel comfortable asking a teacher during class.
"We don't just want to teach core subjects as efficiently and effectively as possible, but to use the extra time this creates during the rest of the day to focus on areas such as self-awareness, critical thinking, active citizenship, digital literacy, artistic expression, public speaking, and entrepreneurship," he said.
Some educators hope AI can help to solve problems such as overworked teachers, ballooning class sizes, and a lack of one-on-one engagement with students. Others think it may have downsides.
Promising examples
"While AI can be a valuable supplement to live teachers, it cannot replace them entirely," Hadida Grabow, a director at the educational consultancy Higher Learning Group, told BI.
While there are some "promising examples" of tools such as Google's Socratic, an AI-powered learning app for students that offers explanations and resources, or the Khan Academy's AI teaching assistant, Grabow said: "We are not seeing anything that could replace a quality educator."
"Regrettably, the technology just isn't there yet — we've seen that with the high-profile failure of the Los Angeles Unified School District's AI chatbot," she said.
The district introduced an AI chatbot called Ed in some schools last March to help with tracking assignments, grades, and student records. But about three months later, the chatbot was shelved after the company that created it collapsed.
Karl Knapp, dean of the business school at the University of Indianapolis, said AI systems can "hallucinate," or make some things up, with students unlikely to "fact-check every utterance by the AI system."
Neither could AI systems judge tone of voice or facial expressions, which he said were "key indicators of student understanding when teaching."
'Humanized learning'
Dalton said that students participating in the pilot will spend their afternoons engaging in a "diverse support curriculum that includes learning how to debate, start a business, develop entrepreneurial skills, explore AI and financial literacy, and participate in creative activities such as cooking and painting."
He added that the college has "humanized the AI learning process by creating a holistic and engaging educational experience." Students can still interact with teachers if they want to.
"The system does not judge students. Instead, it allows them to learn at their own pace in a safe environment," Dalton said. "We also strongly believe that this approach will enhance student confidence as they achieve subject mastery, which in turn will improve their mental health."