Recently a number of people have written to the Portland Press Herald with respect to AI and education. Jonah Davids, a research fellow with Maine Policy Institute, argued that the Maine Department of Education was scuttling traditional approaches to education because of AI. For example, he stated that the Department is prepared to do away with subjects such as English, math and science, in favor of “creativity, social intelligence and entrepreneurship.”

Mr. Davids was, in turn, criticized by three subsequent writers. Valerie Landry, a former Maine commissioner of labor, said in response that educators should “capitalize on the technology in ways that are beneficial.” Further, that AI would “open the door for more students – with a wide range of abilities – to excel as their learning experiences become more individualized and effective.”

Beth Schultz of Westbrook argued that because Mr. Davids works at the Maine Policy Institute, which “undermines public education and advocates for the privatization of education and the expansion of for-profit schools,” his perspective should be dismissed (this is a nice example of an ad hominem argument).

And Miranda Engstrom of Lamoine (the 2023 Hancock County Teacher of the Year) wrote: “AI is not meant to replace the traditional studies that teachers are responsible for teaching; instead, it is a tool that can enhance learning and better prepare students for their futures.”

To summarize, Davids believes AI involves “new-age platitudes and futurist fantasies,” while Landry, Schultz and Engstrom all view AI as a tool to better equip students for the future. However, none of these four writers is very specific about what AI can or may do. Let me make the argument more concrete by suggesting two areas where it might prove helpful.

In 1966, the Stanford professor Patrick Suppes published an article called “The Uses of Computers in Education.” There he wrote: “One can predict that in a few more years millions of school-children will have access to what Philip of Macedon’s son Alexander enjoyed as a royal prerogative: the personal services of a tutor as well-informed and responsive as Aristotle.”

Quite obviously Suppes’ prediction has not come to pass, but that does not mean it cannot (or should not). For example, Yarmouth High School, to which I contribute through property taxes, has a course called “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.” According to the description, “Students will develop a series of projects that illustrate the variety of ways Artificial Intelligence can be used to optimize and predict information and processes.” One such project could involve developing a personal tutor along the lines envisioned by Suppes.

Take, for example, a course called “College Prep Biology.” This course “focuses on biological structures, processes, and interrelationships from the molecular, cellular, organism and ecosystem levels.” In order to master such concepts a student must have acquired a good deal of knowledge, knowledge that an AI-based tutor could impart more efficiently than a human teacher.

In addition to addressing traditional courses of instruction, AI could be used to enhance a student’s perceptual and cognitive abilities (a form of instruction that does not currently exist). For example, a student could be exposed to a paragraph of text for several seconds, and, with the text removed, asked to summarize what he or she just read. Begin with short sentences, and very gradually move on to longer paragraphs. Eventually, possibly, students would be able to acquire the basic message in a long text at a glance. An AI-based program would be ideal for such teaching, since it could evaluate the match between what was in the text and how the student responded.

To summarize, the aforementioned writers each discussed, at an abstract level, the impact of AI on education. By making two concrete suggestions, I have tried to make clearer some of what AI could do. If certain students at Yarmouth High School could enhance the learning of all students there by means of creating AI tutoring programs, this would attest to the school’s motto: “Empowering all students.”