We once wondered: Will a robot replace humans? Now the question has changed: what to teach students so that they can successfully work and live in a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a tool, but a full-fledged participant in everyday life?
The answer seems obvious: you need to teach how to use AI. Logical, right? But... Is this enough?
Learning and AI: Not just adapting, but shaping the future
Fawzi Benmessaoud, a professor at Indiana University, is sure that this is not enough. He insists that education should not just respond to technological changes, but become their driving force.
In his opinion, it is not enough for students to be able to use AI — they must be able to build interaction between people and technology. It's not just about programming, it's also about ingenuity, critical thinking, and ethical adherence.
So, what is to be taught? Benmessaoud identifies three key skill areas that will help you meet the challenges of the new world:
- Intelligent design.
- Human intellectual skills.
- Work with data.
Intelligent Design: How AI Helps Create
It's not just about building AI, it's also about using its capabilities to solve problems. According to the professor, the balance between human ideas and technological implementation is important here.
Here are the skills that are particularly important:
- Digital literacy. Understand technologies, their strengths and weaknesses, choose the right tools and use them effectively.
- Systems thinking. Have you ever thought about how one technology affects another? So students should learn this — so that their developments are not a "thing in itself", but part of a broader system.
- Design thinking. This is the ability to analyze people's needs and find creative solutions.
- UI/UX design. How to make the interaction with AI clear and enjoyable? This is the task of interface designers and user experience designers.
Skills that distinguish a person: what is our strength?
This is where the most interesting begins. Are there any skills that cannot be transferred to AI? Yes, there are such people. This is what makes us human.
Benmessaoud calls them "the quintessence of humanity":
- Critical thinking. Why is this important? Because we need to be able to assess where and how we implement AI.
- Ethics. In a world where technology is growing faster than laws can regulate it, it's important to remember what's good and what's bad.
- Reflection. The ability to comprehend what is happening and see the long-term consequences.
- Prompt engineering. Ability to ask AI questions correctly to get meaningful answers.
Working with data: the basis of the basics
In the world of AI, data is everything. But to benefit from them, you need to know how to work with them.
- Verification. Make sure the data is accurate. Seems obvious? But remember how neural networks sometimes "hallucinate" and give false facts.
- Processing. It's about the ability to structure "raw" data to make it useful.
- Visualization. Do you understand something important? Now show it to the world in a way that even a child can understand.
- Data management. Store, select and update data so that it does not lose its relevance.
Bottom line: is learning a challenge or an opportunity for the world of AI?
The new world requires a new approach to education. Already now, students need to be taught not only to work with AI, but also to shape the future where technology will serve people, and not vice versa.
And, you know, it's not as scary as it seems. The main thing to remember is that behind every smart machine there is a person who knows how to think, create, and ask questions.
