The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence mentioned the integration of Artificial Intelligence into education. Although the writers admit that “quality education will always require active engagement by human teachers,” this point was not well-emphasized. The Education section of the paper boasted the benefits teachers and students enjoy through using artificially intelligent digital systems in the classroom. Although AI in the education system may have practical uses, the importance of face-to-face interaction between a student and their peers and educators must not be undervalued, especially for young children.
 
As children develop, they rely on their personal interactions to shape them into thoughtful, conscious, and aware human beings. Much of a child’s elementary education involves social learning. Students must learn to cooperate with other students and their instructors, but more generally they must learn the skills to have successful interactions with any person they meet. The danger in overuse of technology that the next generation will lack the necessary skills to interact with their world. Important life skills such as cooperation and socializing cannot be effectively learned through a screen.
 
Developmental linguistic studies show that, in the home, children who play with traditional toys like dolls and blocks learn language at a faster rate than children who play with digital toys. A child playing with a doll is required to be more creative in their play, and learns new words as their parent plays along and co-creates scenarios. In contrast, a toy laptop has a limited vocabulary, and after learning all the words programmed into the toy, the child plateaus in their lexical learning. Additionally, a more personal connection is made with the parent as they play. These concepts are outlined in various articles, including “Playing to learn: The trouble with electronic toys” by Sarah C. Bauer.
 
Later in the article, in the Entertainment section, the writers mention once more their awareness of these dangers, admitting to “concerns that [AI] reduces interpersonal interaction among human beings.” However, in the same paragraph, the concerns seem to be swept away with the statement that “AI will increasingly enable entertainment that is more interactive, personalized, and engaging.” Children should not solely rely on artificially intelligent systems for entertainment. If so, they are missing out on the happiness of building relationships with others and are instead stifled by their isolation.
 
Along with mental health, the physical health of a child who spends most of their time indoors on the computer suffers. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The obesity epidemic in America is not going to be resolved if the next generation is seated indoors most of the day, living lives void of physical exertion.
 
All of this is not to say that AI should not be used in education; it should be. AI can help teachers to design lesson plans and better fit an individual student’s needs. It can help students to learn new concepts. Preferably, students that are more dependent on AI in the classroom would be older, having already developed necessary social skills through person-to-person interaction earlier in their academic career.
 
The article claims that “the measure of success for AI applications is the value they create for human lives.” AI will not contribute to human lives if it is prohibiting a well-rounded education that includes social and academic components. There is a place for Artificial Intelligence in education, but its role should not be as the main apparatus for learning.
