If we designed our education system from scratch today, it would look radically different from the antiquated, expensive, slow, and often stuffy system we have. As an AI futurist, I spend time researching and thinking about the future of work, education, and society. The question we must ask ourselves is not only what will happen when we put AI in education but what needs to change in our education system to prepare for AI and society in the future.

Will AI and automation eventually lead to mass unemployment? If AI does most of the work, will people still feel motivated to seek a high-quality education or education of any kind? Will the role of education change in a post-labor world? Could a decline in people’s education use lead to humanity's atrophy? These are some of the questions I plan to explore in this post. My recent posts have been about AI in education. This time, let’s talk about how AI could ultimately change the entire focus of our educational system.

AI technology continues to improve, often exponentially. It’s evolved from pattern matching, prediction, and recommendation engines to sophisticated agents capable of meaningful conversation and performing reasonably complex tasks. With each advancement, AI inches closer to becoming an integral part of our daily lives, not just as assistants but as researchers and collaborators. The change has enormous implications for users, content creators, advertisers, and the multi-billion-dollar search engine optimization (SEO) business.