CUPERTINO–On Saturday, April 4th, a group of student leaders of Educators 4 Impact, and Asian cultural heritage hosts a salon titled Rethinking Education Under AI, with a host of student and adult presenters from all fields sharing their testimonies on AI’s impact on the future of education at Cupertino Senior Center.
The main topic discussed is that, as AI advances, what would be the impact on the field of education? The event was very insightful and brought together a vast diversity of opinions on how education should evolve under AI. Specifically, Scott Carpenter, proposed a perspective on how human connections will become increasingly valuable compared to conventional textbook knowledge, which resonated. Instead of wasting time on gathering and comprehending the excessive information, people can instead “...find the greater purpose of life.” Carpenter said.
As the event proceeded to the Student Panel, Ethan Cai, in response to Carpenter’s claim, agreed with Carpenter in that those who will be more advanced in the future age of AI are “... someone who can think critically…”
However, not all agree that AI is the ultimate beneficial future for humanity. Cherry Chen, ACEYA co-founder, directly addressed that “I am strongly against AI.” She demonstrated her opinions by referencing her experience in studying the immigration history of Harold Sheridan in Shanghai, China, and how Sheridan’s story impacted her. Chen described that the connection, passion, and toughness in the heart are simply unable to be replaced by AI. “I do not use ChatGPT...it matters to have the connection with people before you.”
“We should not let AI take over human beings in…interpretations,” Hsiao-ting Lin, Stanford Hoover Institution Research Fellow, said.
In the student presentation, student-led projects and organizations are introduced with their understanding of AI. 1001 Lives, for example, is a student-led organization that share their interviewees’ life stories from various backgrounds, aiming to help people who are lost in what to do or live for in their lives. “At its core, education isn’t just the transfer of information, it’s the transfer of wisdom from one soul to another,” Eason Bao and Ben Xin who co-founded 1001 Lives, said.