Arizona School Approves Using AI To Replace Teachers, What Could Go Wrong?

An Arizona charter school for K-12 students has been green-lighted to use AI, not teachers, to teach a "2hr Learning" curriculum. The only role humans will play in this process will be as "guides," i.e. someone who designs and personalizes learning content for students on the fly by using AI tools. The application to the school board for the new way of learning was approved by a narrow 4-3 margin.

Earlier in the week, the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools approved for Unbound Academy to begin using AI to teach a special curriculum called "2hr Learning." The program won't have any traditional teachers, but instead have people called "guides." 

As the name indicates, the 2hr Learning model has students spend two hours per day perusing personalized learning software like Khan Academy and IXL. The charter school's application explains that the new system ensures that each student is adequately challenged "at their optical level" and to prevent boredom. In the application, Unbound goes on to say that "As students work through lessons on subjects like math, reading, and science, the AI system will analyze their responses, time spent on tasks, and even emotional cues to optimize the difficulty and presentation of content." 

Within Unbound parlance, "guides" presently serve as mentors by "supporting students’ emotional and motivational needs and teaching life skills." With the introduction of AI into the process, it seems like guides possibly take on a new role to teach the AI model to adapt to each student (rather like an Oreo cookie). Of course, AI is great at presenting information and facts, but teaching is beyond that. What happens if a student doesn't understand something? Can AI take the place of a human to answer their question(s) and/or do guides personally intervene at this point? And will it be prone to embarrassing mistakes, like when Apple Intelligence bungled a headline summary earlier this week?

Unbound Academy Arizona has become the second site that's been approved for AI-led teaching. Unbound Academy Texas was the first, while Unbound in Arkansas and Utah are currently seeking similar approval as well. The school claims that students "learn twice as much as standard school students while only spending 2 hours per day on academics," although (aside from the tricky AI aspect) experts question the educational efficacy of personalized programs like Khan and IXL.