We live in an era that will likely be called the “Digital Age”. Here technology is an inevitable part of our lives and the world is at our fingertips. The educational environment has rapidly changed from Chalkboards and Photocopies to interactive whiteboards, tablet or computer-based learning, and IoT based platforms. As we all know, Artificial intelligence has emerged as a pervasive form of technology in education and has grabbed the spotlight in every activity and application of our lives.

The growth of Artificial intelligence is momentous in our generation. We see AI in our virtual assistants on our phones and apps, an AI chooses the advertisements we see on social media, AI controls most video games, and they even run our trains and airplanes. But we indeed have a very long way to go.

Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In 1955, the first Artificially Intelligent program was created. The person who coined the term in 1956 was John McCarthy, and he is widely considered as the Father of Artificial Intelligence. The machine is capable enough to think and act like a human by analyzing tons of data that is available in their environment. Thus, the decision-making process is very similar to the ones used by us, humans too.

Artificial Intelligence has been widely regarded to be the engine that will drive the future global digital economy. It is growing at an exponential rate with the industry’s value estimated to reach over $15 trillion in 2030. AI is proving to be the significant groundbreaking component of our digital era. The World Economic Forum estimates that while AI will displace 75 million jobs, it will generate almost 133 million new ones worldwide by 2022. Therefore, adding topics like Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and Deep Learning in education paves the path for our students to move forward as per the world demands.

Bringing AI in the education sector is beneficial to both educators and students.

Why does AI need to be included in our curriculum?

It is unavoidable that as technology continues to evolve and develop, education must also evolve and develop. Education is the biggest tool that strengthens the future generation. AI is the skill for the century, and now it is not just science fiction but rather all around us.

Schools are the havens where our future generations get prepared and moulded into global citizens. Hence, this is the place where we need to lay the foundation for our future students to climb upon.  

The importance of a skills based education in a sustainable manner is required to make the next generation 'AI ready'. Now the importance of inclusion of AI in curriculum has been recognized by many educators. So AI has to be included from the K – 12 curriculum as a collaborative learning pattern. Hence, initiatives for AI inclusion in various subjects by integrating them into the curriculum is going to be an essential element in our future education. Thus, bringing AI with critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem solving and other 21^st century skills will indeed prepare our students for the digital revolution in the future.

Artificial Intelligence is now making its presence everywhere from healthcare, fashion, communication, finance and security. In the future 20% of all jobs in a company will be AI based. Learning AI or including AI is akin to giving the students a pool of opportunities that the future’s industries demand.

What is the Role of AI in teaching?

The world is getting smart – smart classrooms, smart homes etc. are common, day to day words now. Thus, educators also need to be smart. AI plays an important role in applying this idea. By using AI, teachers can provide a Hyper personalized learning platform thus enabling differentiated learning by analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, leading to the development of an individual learning profile for each student.  The digital smart content and learning materials, from digitized textbooks to customized interfaces also enhances the learning environment in a very student friendly manner. Learning has turned into a paperless concept and enables the teacher to make customized student content. The interactive interface improves the student’s interests and the collection or analysis of feedback from the students and follow-up of this, compensate for and improve any and all missed or struggling concepts are also added advantages of AI. The augment tutoring and intelligent assistants also enhance learning and the teaching environment such that each student can learn at their own pace. The global computer-based learning environment provided to students, fosters communication, collaboration and cooperation of students from all over the world.

There are a lot of educational applications based on AI that improve learning capabilities of children of all levels and empower both the learners and teachers such as Thinkster Math, Brainly, Content Technologies, MATHiaU, and Netex Learning. Hence the inclusion of AI will prepare a tech savvy workforce of the future, to face the challenges of tomorrow’s world.

In this lies the importance of learning AI at a young age. The students of the future require a knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to succeed in their respective careers. An individual who has gained a knowledge of these two innovational topics will surely accomplish their goals and attain a great position in their futures. Remember, Artificial Intelligence will disrupt all industries, don’t be left behind.

GIIS Abu Dhabi - smart campus has recognized the importance of incorporating AI in the curriculum. It is at present being included in select lesson plans by collaborating and integrating with all the other subjects to prepare the students for tomorrow. At present AI based applications are being used in classrooms to enhance the process of learning. Along with that, the school has introduced Artificial Intelligence as an additional sixth subject from Grade 9 onwards to make our students future ready with theoretical and programming knowledge regarding Artificial Intelligence.

As Nick Bostrom said, “Artificial Intelligence will be the last invention humanity will ever need to make.”