At the ASU+GSV Summit, Bill Gates spoke of his belief that artificial intelligence will eventually be able to match the skill of a human tutor.
In just a few months, remarkable advancements have been made in the field of artificial intelligence chatbots, with OpenAi’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard now reaching human-level capabilities on some standardized tests.
Despite the fact that computers lack the capacity to simulate human thought, AI chatbots are nevertheless able to produce language similar to what people use, according to Gates. This has made it possible for computers to now teach writing skills with greater ease than in the past.
The ability of ChatGPT to rapidly search through online style guides has certainly impressed tech columnist Kevin Roose, who’s already seen the benefit it can have on his writing. Many academics also view chatbots as being incredibly useful for summarising and offering feedback on text or even creating entire essays.
Before AI can be used effectively for tutoring, it must develop more advanced capabilities in order to motivate students. According to Bill Gates, this means improving its ability to interpret and form human language. Surprisingly enough, it needs to advance in reading and writing before tackling mathematics – despite maths typically being used as a cornerstone for building chatbot protocols – as numerical calculations are difficult for current programs.
Gates expressed that whilst a chatbot can provide an answer to a math equation already present in its training datasets, it is considerably more challenging for the bot to come up with its own solution. Solving this type of problem necessitates an augmented level of reasoning capability.
Expressing optimism, Bill Gates predicts that within the next two years, technological advancements can make private tutoring accessible to many students who may not be able to pay for it. He is certain that these developments can give those individuals a chance of being provided with guidance and instruction beyond what is already available.
In comparison to the high cost of individual tutoring from a human instructor, chatbots offer a more affordable and accessible alternative. Although there are currently some free versions in existence, Bill Gates predicts that we will soon see more advanced models available for purchase at an even lower cost.
