Chapter 4, part 6: Future of Learning: Balancing AI Innovation with Human Motivation

Chapter 4, Part 6 — Applying AI to Education

Scenario #4: Universal Basic Income (UBI)

This final scenario depicts an almost utopian future where AI handles all tasks, allowing humanity to dedicate their time entirely to leisure activities. People worldwide would rely on a form of Universal Basic Income for survival. This scenario extends the trajectories outlined in Scenarios 2 and 3 to an extreme, reaching a point where almost no one needs to work. The implications of this scenario would be profound and would likely free us to pursue our own interests, such as sports, art, video games, and theater.

Relevance of All Four Long-Term Scenarios to AI and Education

Essentially, any future where AGI or ASI is achieved and becomes universally accessible would very likely cause a major disruption in education, with students becoming what Sir Anthony Seldon describes as “infantilized” and falling into the “what’s the point?” mindset (Hamilton, Wiliam, & Hattie, 2023). In the case of education, Seldon’s concept of “infantilization” would refer to the state where AI handles everything, such as homework, drafting text messages and emails, and carrying out all the ‘real’ work we now expect humans to do (Hamilton et al., 2023). I believe this could lead to a rapid and even dangerous decrease in one of the most important drivers of education: the motivation to learn.

Examples like Latin, a dying language, lead people to question the purpose of spending time mastering it. In a similar example, why should a taxi driver any longer memorize routes if they can simply input destinations into a digital mapping platform?

Hamilton et al. (2023) highlight the overarching risk that this mindset could quickly become widespread if AI continues to advance at the current pace. People might initially pursue learning for its own sake, for a while, but the researchers believe that such an interest would likely only be temporary as AI replaces the “need to learn” (Hamilton et al., 2023). This means that eventually, educating oneself could turn into a “hobby” pursued only by enthusiasts in a world where it’s no longer critical for survival or thriving in an almost completely automated environment (Hamilton et al., 2023). Because of the “what’s the point” mentality, the entire institution of education might not survive in a world where AI becomes “too smart” and the motivation to learn is lost (Hamilton et al., 2023).

The question of “what will be the role of education” and “what will actually motivate humans to learn,” in my opinion, continues to be a central theme, especially in the last three scenarios. This is the question I explore more fully in Chapter 5.

References

Hamilton, A., Wiliam, D., & Hattie, J. (2023). The future of AI in education: 13 things we can do to minimize the damage [Working paper]. Cognition Education. https://cognitioneducation.com/news/ai-in-education/