While artificial intelligence is likely to replace a significant number of human beings in the workforce, there are some professions, such as teaching, that will be more resilient, said Duolingo
Duolingo
“At some point, it is probably the case that most human jobs will be replaced by AI,” von Ahn said during a free-ranging discussion at the opening plenary of the NAFSA international education conference in New Orleans. “I just don’t think teachers will be in any particular danger.”
Duolingo cofounder and CEO Luis Von Ahn speaks with NAFSA CEO Fanta Aw at the annual NAFSA … [+]
The reasons are because of the weight teachers wield in society and the human-centric value they bring to the classroom, the entrepreneur explained, speaking with Dr. Fanta Aw, Executive Director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, in front of an audience of international educators and administrators.
Duolingo, established by von Ahn and Severin Hacker in 2011, is best known globally for its popular language learning app. Von Ahn, who also coinvented CAPTCHA, which distinguishes between humans and bots online, said he benefited from having access to a quality education in his home country of Guatemala.
“The thing about teachers is, first of all, it’s such an important job,” he said. “Secondly, people learn things by seeing that a teacher has a good moral character. I also think teachers are really good at inspiring (students) and that is hard to mimic with the computer.”
While AI is useful in terms of teaching and knowledge-sharing at scale, an individual teacher “plays all kinds of other roles that are not really quantifiable with the role of knowledge transfer,” von Ahn added.
How AI will influence education trends has become a focal point in recent years as AI tools are more integrated in teaching. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, a quarter of teachers in the U.S. say AI tools do more harm than good in the K-12 classroom. Overall, high school teachers are more likely than elementary and middle school teachers to hold unfavorable views about using AI tools in education.
In addition, how to educate students in economies where job displacements caused by AI are widely anticipated is another challenge. According to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund, almost 40% of global employment is exposed to AI. While in the past, automation and technology tended to replace jobs that involved routine tasks, AI’s ability to impact high-skilled jobs is what makes the quickly-evolving technology so powerful.
In fact, according to the IMF analysis, in advanced economies, about 60% of jobs may be impacted by AI while emerging markets and low-income countries will be less vulnerable, with only 4o% of jobs affected.
Regarding the benefits of technology, von Ahn said that making a quality education accessible to all has been his goal since cofounding Duolingo. Growing up in a middle class household in Guatemala, he received a better education than many of those around him because his mother had the financial resources to provide one.
“I could see the difference between people that were in my high school versus people that were in my neighborhood,” the edtech entrepreneur said. “You can see that those who have money can buy themselves a really good education” while those who don’t have resources just learn basic skills like reading.
“I’ve seen this (education gap) firsthand,” he added.
Von Ahn’s academic trajectory led him to an undergraduate education at Duke University, followed by doctoral studies in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.
“I was fortunate that I came to the U.S. for college. I was fortunate that I did a couple of things that were very successful,” he said. “Because of this, I try and give people access to education.”