I've recently spent all my time interacting with ChatGPT, and was surprised to see how much of an all-knowing machine it is. I asked it all kinds of things, from serious questions to jokes, to see for myself its learning capabilities. When it comes to answering serious questions, ChatGPT does really well. But when it comes to jokes, it's often very off the mark. When it comes to more technical inquiries, given the right questions, the AI can give out answers as well as any expert.
The birth of ChatGPT, and many other AIs, is something undeniable. To ban their use or restrict access to them is something impossible. As such, I will only allow my children to use it when they feel that it's necessary. One day, ChatGPT and its brethren will become just as popular and essential as Google is now. So, I ask myself, how should our education system adapt to this inevitability?
Rote memorization would be rendered virtually useless. Forcing students to learn "templates" for the sake of achieving high scores would be of no practical help, seeing as an all-knowing machine already knows all the answers. So instead of focusing on memorization, what we should teach our children is how to ask the right questions. It is a novel challenge. Such a shift would mean that our 2018 education pedagogy, which is being adjusted to be put into application, might be outdated. But of course, there is no need to scrap everything and build the pedagogy from scratch. What we need to do is to adjust and adapt. The question is, how exactly should we adjust it?
The first, and also the best and easiest adjustment, is a change to our ways of testing and evaluating children. Education should not be about scores. Our current way of education depends too much on tests: however, tests are carried out, so should our children study to pass them. A change to testing and evaluation methods should create a change in how our students learn and are taught as well. Second is allowing schools to shed certain educational materials that are too cumbersome, as well as allowing them to deploy their own education programs that satisfy learners’ demands and are in line with the advancement of technology. Third is an encouragement of education programs that are liberal in nature, which should help students unlock their full potential. These programs would focus on emotional regulation and the cultivation of an inner world, helping children form personalities and individualities, among other values.
If humans’ natural intelligence will one day pale to the machines’, then it would be our capacity for emotions and the awareness of the self that demark a territory that no machine could ever hope to trespass. Besides intelligence, humans also possess awareness regarding ethics and aesthetics. An AI, at its best, could only advance itself when it comes to learning about objective knowledge. But the appreciation of beauty would remain a human domain. In the end, it is important to remember that AIs are created to assist us, not to gain power over us. Humans can only be humans if we retain our awareness of ourselves, and if we don’t, we just might become mere extensions of our machines.

1. When Vicky Harmiston was a child, her parents gave her and her brother Jamie the freedom to decide what they did in their spare time. Vicky chose to do lots of different sports. She was a good swimmer, and the coach at the swimming club she went to thought she might be good enough to become a champion. But the club was a long way from her home, so it was difficult for her to fit in the training around her schoolwork.
2. When they were teenagers, Jamie, who loved cycling, bought himself a special track-racing bike and started taking part in competitions. Vicky thought it looked very exciting and decided to try it for herself. She says that was the best decision she ever made. Soon, she was cycling every day and doing really well. The track was near her school, which meant it was no problem for her to attend training sessions after school every day.
3. Vicky went on to have a successful career in track cycling and won several competitions. Then, when she was 28, she retired from competitive cycling. Vicky told mе: "For years I'd loved winning competitions, but I began to get a bit tired of the whole thing, and when the excitement stops, there's no point. Luckily, I went on to havе a new career."
4. Vicky got a job with a charity called CуcleZone. "We work with young people who have never enjoyed sport," she says. "The first thing we do is teach them to ride a bike. We want them to learn to believe in themselves and their own abilities. CуcleZone does a great job, and it gets young people together, so they're part of a wider group."
5. The charity uses celebrities to advertise the work they do. Vicky says, "I know some people aren't sure whether the support of a celebrity is always positive for a charity. They say the celebrities are only doing it to push themselves forward, which prevents the public from seeing thе real work of the charity. But if famous singers and actors, for example, can help, I think they should."