by Travis Parker Martin, Head of Film & New Media Content, Bootkik
Artificial intelligence has long promised to disrupt life as we know it, but only in the last few years have we seen tech companies like Google double down on it, going so far to say they’re no longer “mobile-first” but “AI-first”.
There’s no sector immune to disruption via AI, but one of the areas with the greatest potential is how it will affect education.
We’re already seeing artificial intelligence-backed teaching assistants, and it’s been proposed that AI could help teachers with basic functions such as grading as well. Locally, Alberta-based tech startup Bootkik has entered the AI in Education market. Leighton Healey – the CEO of Bootkik, noted that “Bookit is employing AI for matching users with mentors, determining a user’s level of knowledge on any given subject, and identifying the skills a user needs next to grow their business”. Bootkik is currrently crowdfunding for an AI-driven business learning platform.
Any company focused on bringing artificial intelligence to the education sphere is going to face stiff competition, however. Not only are AI-based edtech startups popping up everywhere, some of technology’s biggest players, including Facebook and Google, are investing heavily into using tech to enhance education.
AltSchool, which has raised $175million to date from investors such as Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, develops education software and is trying to “redefine education”. However, parents are pushing back with criticisms that AltSchool was too impersonal for their kids, and in some situations, learning disabilities were not diagnosed because of a lack of human oversight.
To many, AI’s inclusion in education is more a matter of when, not if. Yet, as AltSchool is demonstrating, the path to truly and seamlessly merging technology and traditional education is bumpy, even among the tech sphere’s most prominent individuals.
“At this point, the best fit for artificial intelligence in education is one that enhances, not replaces” said Bootkik’s Leighton Healey. “We don’t want to go scorched earth, but we want to harness technology to open new doors that weren’t available to people 20 or 30 years ago.”
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Source: ABCTech