And so the A.I. revolution begins!

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) has been a buzzword for a while now, but its potential to transform education is only starting to be fully realized. Eli Snyder, a special education teacher in Colorado, recently experienced firsthand how AI can help educators better adapt their teaching strategies to meet the needs of all their students.

Snyder, like any good teacher, wanted to engage his students in a fun activity that could also provide a learning experience. But he faced a challenge: he needed to adapt the game of basketball to make it accessible for his students with disabilities, including cerebral palsy and autism. That's when he turned to ChatGPT, an A.I.-powered chatbot that has the ability to analyze vast amounts of data and generate complete paragraphs with recommendations.

By analyzing information about disabilities and basketball from the internet, ChatGPT came up with recommendations that were tailored to Snyder's needs. For example, it suggested shrinking the court size to reduce the distance players need to travel in wheelchairs lowering the hoop, and installing a ramp leading up to it so students can roll the basketball into the net. It also recommended pairing up players so each person has a buddy for support.

Snyder could have found this information through a simple Google search, but ChatGPT provided him with complete paragraphs instead of links that would have required further clicking and synthesizing. The chatbot's response helped him quickly write adapted lesson plans for each of his students, reducing the time he spent on planning from an hour to just five minutes.

AI is changing the way educators approach teaching by providing personalized recommendations and adaptive learning experiences that cater to each student's individual needs. In Snyder's case, ChatGPT's ability to analyze large amounts of data and provide tailored recommendations allowed him to better adapt his teaching strategies to meet the needs of all his students. With AI's potential to revolutionize education, we can expect to see more and more educators turn to this technology to help them better meet the needs of their students.

The Imperfections of A.I. Chatbots

While A.I. chatbots are often celebrated for their potential to revolutionize the way we work, they do have their flaws. As we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, chatbots can make mistakes, as seen in the $100 billion drop in Google’s stock market value due to an erroneous ad.

Despite these limitations, many workers find chatbots to be useful as a tool for brainstorming and writing assistance. Alexia Mandeville, a video game designer in Texas, uses ChatGPT to generate character names and produce news releases for her games. Mandeville acknowledges that chatbots sometimes produce inaccurate or lower-quality work, but still finds them to be valuable in her creative process.

It is important to remember that the chatbot is merely a tool and not the creator. While it can copywriting styles and replicate internet behavior, it lacks the ability to reason, use logic, discern truth, and generate imaginative work. For instance, it has not been successful in writing science fiction. As a result, the capacity for original thought and creativity remains a uniquely human trait that keeps professionals employed in white-collar jobs, even as A.I. poses a growing threat to the workforce.

P.S.: You can read more about this topic in articles such as Artificial Intelligence in business: a guide for industries and 5 AI Tools to Supercharge Businesses