As a young and innovative student, I definitely see the potential of generative AI. In my previous blog, I posted about the potential of AI in creating creative business ideas. A lot of consultants or other business idea creators’ work could be done by AI, in my view. To make it interesting I also wanted to post about a sector where AI should be used with more caution. As my mother works as a teacher in a primary school, I have seen a lot of problems at schools. One of the most urgent problems is the shortage of teachers. You would think that AI should be a solution to this problem as AI can ease the burden on teachers by making customized learning materials and automating administrative tasks. Of course, this is helpful but there are many books and assignments already to choose from for the teacher, thus AI-generated content is not necessary. Especially at a primary school, teachers are more, mentors, role models, and sources of emotional support than teachers. School is much more than just learning math, as learning how to communicate and behave is just as important, if not more important, in life. And how useful AI is, the importance of human interaction can not be understated in the education sector.
So what could be done to solve the problem of teacher shortages? In my opinion, teachers should follow a generative AI class to generate or automate a lot of their work. This could ease the burden a little bit. But I think the solution lies more in the use of older kids to be that mentor, role model, and source of emotional support. Kids in the 7th or 8th grade could teach the younger kids. With 2 older brothers, I know that you can learn a lot from people who are just a little bit older than you. Brothers are mentors so why can older kids at school not be mentors as well?
In conclusion, sadly not all sectors can just use generative AI to solve their problems. The education sector, as well as the healthcare sector, rely a lot on human interaction which is the weak point of generative AI.
