Access to a personal tutor tailored to learning needs, available anytime and anywhere. Is this reality too far for our children? According to the tech CEO who brought us ChatGPT, that’s an observable fact.

In his recent Blog postAltman paints a picture of a transformative future with super-intelligent AI at its center. As we enter what he calls the “Age of Intelligence,” the impact on education is imminent.

Age of Intelligence

Altman seems confident in his writing that recent developments are ushering in an era of “unprecedented prosperity and progress”. To prepare students for success in this new era, we may need to: Revise existing educational practices..

This is because of his great prediction of democratizing personalized education. “Our children will have virtual tutors who can provide personalized instruction in any subject, in any language, and at any pace they need,” he explains. This level of individual attention in education is often reserved for a privileged few, but could it become a universal reality?

Imagine our children armed with a team of AI experts. Each of them specializes in different subjects and collaborates to create a customized learning experience. Altman suggests that “eventually we could each have a personal AI team, full of virtual experts in different fields, working together to create anything we can imagine. ” I have Written earlier About the work I do helping students build their own AI teams.

These developments will allow children to develop at their own pace and explore their interests in depth. It also promises to close educational gaps and provide high-quality learning opportunities regardless of a student’s location or status.

Redefining learning and expanding knowledge

Altman believes that super-intelligent AI will not only help us learn existing knowledge, but will also enable us to create new knowledge. “AI will give people the tools to solve hard problems and help us add new struts to the scaffolding that we couldn’t have imagined on our own,” he explains.

This can be an opportunity to focus on education. Instead of an obsession with memorizing and learning for exams, education can pivot toward developing problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and innovation. Students can collaborate with AI systems to solve real-world challenges. They may also contribute to scientific discoveries and technological developments as part of their learning process.

A changing job market

Altman also acknowledges potential barriers to the job market. “We expect this technology to lead to significant changes in labor markets (for better and for worse) in the coming years,” he notes. There is an urgent need to prepare students for a rapidly evolving workforce. Adaptability, creative thinking and lifelong learning, more than job-specific knowledge, may be desirable as some jobs change or become obsolete. I have written before that our children need to be equipped with it. Business skills.

Altman’s motivations

While Altman’s vision of the future is undoubtedly compelling, it’s worth considering the motivations behind his predictions. His claim that superintelligence may be “a few thousand days old” deserves closer scrutiny.

Altman has a history of hinting at his company’s developments before their official release. Most recently he teased his X followers with a Strawberry meme before they released the GPT-o1, codenamed Strawberry. Their decision to launch ChatGPT in November 2022 was, by their own admission, to show the world the rapid development in AI technology. Could his latest blog post follow suit? Is he implying that OpenAI has made significant progress toward superintelligence?

A more cynical interpretation might link Altman’s optimistic timeline to OpenAI’s current fundraising efforts. The company is seeking to raise $6.5 billion. Altman’s blog post, with its prediction of imminent superintelligence, can be seen as a way to generate excitement and attract investors.

It’s important to note that Altman’s reputation in the tech world and OpenAI’s status are such that he doesn’t need to resort to exaggeration for fundraising purposes. The company’s achievements speak for themselves and investors have already helped OpenAI near the end of this funding round.

Another, more simplistic interpretation is that Altman is simply expressing his true belief in the pace of AI development. He is at the forefront of AI research and has unique insight into the growth and potential of the field. His optimism may be a reflection of the rapid growth he is seeing himself.

Regardless of the exact motivations behind Altman’s blog post, it serves as a valuable reminder that AI is advancing at an incredibly fast pace. This forces us to consider the potential impact of superintelligence on society and education. As we move toward this technological frontier, the need for careful planning and ethical considerations is urgent.

A call to action

Altman’s vision serves as a call to action. Understanding this vision will require:

• Equitable access for all students.
• Preparing learners for a rapidly changing job market.
• Addressing ethical concerns
• Training teachers to use AI effectively.

With a new strategy for education, we can ensure that this change benefits all students. As Altman says, “With these new capabilities, we can share a level of prosperity that seems unimaginable today.”