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Artificial Intelligence Vs Teachers – The Battle of the Future?

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us numerous things, it has caused us to re-evaluate our priorities
and impacted our normal way of life in myriad ways. With the ‘new normal’ settling in, the lives of
everyone across the world, the classrooms of schools and colleges were not spared. In a short span
of time, education was immensely altered by digitalization and the classroom was no stranger to
online teaching and adaptive software. With schools closing down and colleges and universities

moving exclusively to online learning; teachers, professors and students found themselves in
unchartered waters.

The digital era dawned on students and teachers alike, whether they liked it or not, whether they
were prepared for it or not. The immediate consequence of this new normal was a massive
collection of new experiences, new educational content and loads of useful data that fueled the
development of technology and a new way of learning.

With classrooms being the comfort of one’s home and the on-going development in the field of
artificial intelligence, I found myself pondering on a question that brought to light my fear of
losing one of the things I love the most in my life- teaching. Will our classrooms be overtaken by AI
and we, teachers, replaced?

One of the most powerful facets of teaching is the relationship between a teacher and their
students. Teaching is a many-to-one as well as a one-on-one relationship that works in unique
ways. Not only does a teacher impart knowledge to the students, but they also learn from them.
This interaction is what helps students learn, grow, and feel supported in their education. An AI
might be able to replicate some aspects of a teacher-student relationship. However, it will never
fully replicate the warmth, empathy and connection that comes from real human interaction.

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