Hard to believe that it was just last fall that ChatGPT was unveiled. In the months since, AI has leapt from the realm of science fiction into our daily lives. Educators have struggled to make sense of these new tools and the attendant opportunities and risks鈥攁ll while being bombarded by hype and hand-wringing. As we commence the first school year of the AI era, it seemed like a good time to check in with the American Enterprise Institute鈥檚 inimitable John Bailey, the individual I most trust to talk straight on what AI may mean for schooling. Over the years, John鈥檚 many roles have included serving as director of educational technology for the Pennsylvania and U.S. departments of education. In Education Next, John recently penned the must-read 鈥�,鈥� which covered a lot of ground and thus didn鈥檛 get to go as deep into practical suggestions as it might鈥檝e. I wanted to give John a chance to talk more concretely about opportunities for educators, learners, and parents. Here鈥檚 what he had to say.
鈥� Rick
Rick: You recently penned a new piece on AI and schools. What鈥檚 the thumbnail sketch for folks who haven鈥檛 read it?
John: ChatGPT captured the country鈥檚 imagination with its ability to answer questions, write essays, summarize documents, write software, and analyze data. I tried to explain how these generative AI technologies work, how they can be used in education, and also some of the challenges they pose. It鈥檚 difficult to describe AI in the abstract, so I provide some example prompts that demonstrate what these systems are capable of.
Rick: OK, big picture: You know as well as anyone that schools have been swamped over the years with overhyped tech. Is AI different?
John: That鈥檚 very true and important to acknowledge. I鈥檝e also been guilty of contributing to the hype only to be disappointed when the promised benefits fell short. The internet opened up a world of information and made it easier to distribute new resources. Personalized learning tried to curate resources to meet individual needs, but it was expensive and had limited capabilities. And many technology products just complicated the lives of teachers instead of simplifying them.
Generative AI is different. Rather than simply expanding resources, it expands human capabilities. That sounds strange until you play with these tools. Anyone with a phone now has on-demand access to AI assistants capable of performing a growing range of sophisticated tasks that you would normally assign to a human intern or a teaching assistant. And it鈥檚 incredibly simple to access and use. Anyone with a cellphone and the internet can access these services and ask them to complete tasks just using normal, everyday language. We鈥檙e only beginning to grasp the potential and challenges of putting these rapidly evolving AI capabilities into millions of hands.
Rick: What has you most optimistic about AI鈥檚 potential impact in education?
John: We鈥檙e still trying to understand the potential of these new AI systems, but they鈥檙e promising for two main reasons. First, they can handle an expanding range of tasks that could be helpful to teachers and students. Their ability to make sense of complicated data could also help support better decisionmaking, too. And second, all of this is achieved using natural human language, which dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for people to use these systems.
Rick: What has you most concerned?
John: While AI systems are advanced, they can produce misleading information, or 鈥渉allucinations.鈥� There鈥檚 also the risk that the more we rely on tools like this, the greater the chance we鈥檒l 鈥渇all asleep at the wheel鈥� and just start deferring to their outputs instead of reviewing them and using our own judgments. Bias is another problem, in all of its facets: racial, political, pedagogical, etc. Past skepticism of technology might limit our view of AI鈥檚 potential鈥攊n fact, I worry we may be underestimating the potential of AI. And finally, I鈥檓 concerned that in policy conversations, there is too much focus on minimizing potential harm from AI rather than maximizing its benefits.
Rick: You鈥檝e written that AI could serve as an instructional assistant, serving as a tutor or helping explain difficult concepts to students. Can you get more concrete about what that might look like?
John: Understanding the capabilities of these systems allows us to harness them effectively in educational settings. They excel at conversation and . With a simple natural-language prompt, they can or adopt a approach. Systems like ChatGPT have enabled providers like Khan Academy鈥檚 , , and to offer instructional support.
Rick: Have there been any rigorous studies that speak to how effective these AI-based tutoring platforms are?
John: It鈥檚 been less than a year since these models have been out and even less time since some of these tutors were built. So, there hasn鈥檛 been time to conduct efficacy studies. The research that I do think is important to follow is around the capabilities of these models. OpenAI鈥檚 details how GPT4 passed many of the assessments we use to measure human intelligence. Google released a similar demonstrating that its medical model became the first to exceed a 鈥減assing鈥� score on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination. found GPT4 is close to human-level performance on a wide range of tasks. A new found these systems beat MBA students in generating creative ideas. The question is how we can deploy these capabilities to help improve teaching, strengthen learning, and better support parents.
Rick: You鈥檝e also written that AI could help reduce the amount of time teachers devote to administrative tasks. Can you get a little more concrete about how this might work?
John: Teachers increasingly spend more time on administrative tasks and . There鈥檚 a hope that these AI tools might reduce some of the time spent on administrative tasks to free up teachers to spend more time with students. AI systems could serve in the role of a teaching assistant, , , , and brainstorming ways of to students. In the years ahead, I think we鈥檒l see these kinds of capabilities embedded in a lot of existing tools that teachers already use like Google Classroom.
Rick: And you鈥檝e suggested that AI can also help parents with education-related tasks鈥攍ike requesting an IEP or bedtime stories. This seems like an oft-overlooked set of opportunities: What are some good places for parents to start?
John: I was speaking with a mom who was trying to secure some specialized IEP services for her son. But the process was bureaucratic and complicated, so much so that she typically uses a lawyer to engage with the district. I asked her to email me exactly what she would ask the lawyer to do, gave it to ChatGPT, and it produced a pretty incredible It wasn鈥檛 perfect, but it was remarkable in both the way it constructed the justification and the assertive tone in which it made its case.
Rick: Finally, in your Education Next piece, you also noted that AI could offer crucial assistance to administrators. What are some examples of what you have in mind?
John: Generative AI could be extremely helpful in drafting more parent-friendly documents. For example, I asked ChatGPT to take a sample letter to parents about assessment suggested by the Missouri education department and make it easier to understand and more persuasive about the value of assessments. It did a including fixing some of the typos in the original draft. AI could also be useful in from school board meetings. There are just a number of tedious tasks that seem ripe for AI automation.
Rick: What鈥檒l it take for AI to do any of this well? Can you offer a few tips for educators and system leaders on that score?
John: The first step is really to play with these tools to better understand what they can do. Think about what you would email an intern to do and use that as a prompt. If it doesn鈥檛 get it right, just respond conversationally with what you need it to do better. Second, think about different ways these capabilities could be used in education. has a number of helpful resources and conducts workshops around the country that can help. And finally, make sure to deploy these AI tools The U.S. Department of Education in partnership with Digital Promise produced a useful outlining some of these best practices.
