As Artificial Intelligence advances and becomes a common part of everyday life, some people worry that computerized systems will make many jobs obsolete. Some even worry that AI will eventually do this to teachers and take over their children’s and grandchildren’s classrooms. Do you think a computer can replace a human teacher? Why? Why not?

As “thinking” computers move from fiction to reality, people are concerned about their children’s education. While it is inevitable that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will someday enter the education system, I highly doubt computers can manage a classroom full of children since they lack certain traits only human teachers have. Among these traits is empathy. Machines cannot feel, therefore they cannot sense emotional responses and needs in children, who themselves have not fully developed the ability to make themselves understood. In other words, young children depend heavily on their parents’ and teachers’ abilities to guess what is on their minds. A machine, for all its intelligence, can only be programed with facts and figures and to respond accordingly; it cannot be taught to react to tears, tantrums, or sullen silences, nor can it equate a student’s irrationally aggressive behaviour with his lack of comprehension of the material or even something as simple as hunger. Conversely, empathy and previous experience enables teachers to expect the unexpected, to make quick adjustments, and to improvise. Of course, computers can calculate scenarios based on data, but they cannot respond properly to human kids acting unpredictably, as kids often do. For example, a computerized instructor could respond to a fire alarm and usher students out of the building to a safe area. However, a computer could not react to an angry child’s rebellion by appealing to her rationality, or to a sensitive student’s response to a peer’s abuse, or to a slumping sports team that requires a pep talk. Human teachers, who have lived through these scenarios themselves, can draw on their life experiences to deal with any situation, be it practical or emotional. In conclusion, while AI can do many things and be a useful tool in the classroom, the one thing it cannot do, which is essential to teaching, is to be human. Thus, teachers should not worry about being replaced by computers.