Part II: Can AI Replace Teachers?

In “Part I: Can AI Replace Teachers?” We dived deep into teachers’ impact on social skills. However, there is more to answering this question. How are students mental, soaffected? What are implications, and limitations to AI integration?

Photo Credits: Arizona School Adopts AI to Replace Human Teachers.” TeckNexus, 20 Dec. 2024, tecknexus.com/arizona-school-adopts-ai-to-replace-human-teachers/.

Human teachers are crucial for the social and emotional learning of students, and it’s irreplaceable by artificial intelligence. Dr. Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an endowed chair in Social and Emotional Learning at the NoVo Foundation. She emphasizes the importance of teachers and their role in the social aptitude of students, “Teachers are the engine that drives social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and practices in schools and classrooms, and their own social-emotional competence and well-being strongly influence their students. Classrooms with warm teacher-child relationships support deep learning and positive social and emotional development among students” (Schonert-Reichl). Human teachers excel in developing a proper environment for students to learn social and emotional skills. This has a high impact on a student’s social aptitude as it fosters the initial development. Dr. Robert F. Murphy, PhD holder from Northwestern University in Human Development and Social Policy, and the head and owner of LFC research, discusses the complexity of teaching and how AI is incapable of replicating the same effect for students. “At the same time, teachers need to be able to think logically and apply common sense, compassion, and empathy to deal with the everyday non-academic issues and problems that arise in the classroom—abilities famously lacking in even the most advanced AI systems. In addition to providing students with opportunities to develop narrow procedural knowledge and skills across a range of content areas (something that AI is particularly good at), schools and teachers must support the development of the whole child and provide students with rich opportunities to develop higher-order critical thinking and communication skills, as well as important social and emotional skills and mindsets (such as interpersonal skills, self-efficacy, and resiliency)” (Murphy). AI is incapable of supporting a student’s development in their social aptitude, such as communication, interpersonal, and social skills. AI is also unable to replicate human-like social characteristics that are crucial for a learning environment, such as empathy and compassion. Specifically, when teachers have to handle non-academic problems with students in social environments, such as relationship issues and miscommunication. Therefore, artificial intelligence’s inability to create a social and emotional learning environment will hinder the development of a student’s social skills and altogether negatively impact their social aptitude.

The possible replacement of teachers with artificial intelligence negatively impacts the social aptitude of students in America by hindering students’ ability to form relationships and insufficient social and emotional learning. Artificial intelligence as teachers would reduce the number of social interactions students have, ultimately impacting students' personal relationships and their ability to form connections. AI is also unable to replicate human-like social characteristics such as empathy and compassion, which is significant in a learning environment. AI is incapable of supporting a student’s development in communication, interpersonal, and social skills, which all make up their social aptitude. Overall, artificial intelligence greatly affects students’ social aptitude negatively. To ensure artificial intelligence benefits students, “Both humans and AI need to adapt to ensure the successful integration of technology in education” (Fitria), as stated by Fitria, English lecturer and academic researcher at ITB AAS Indonesia. Artificial intelligence isn’t at the current stage to replace teachers, as the negatives outweigh the benefits. Moreover, artificial intelligence is incapable of replicating a social and emotional learning environment, possesses and leverages human-like social characteristics, and supports a student’s ability to form relationships. Artificial intelligence needs to develop greatly before it can support a teacher’s job, taking into account relationship building and creating a suitable social and emotional learning environment for students. Likewise, humans must adapt to artificial intelligence integration to ensure success in the learning environment, specifically in developing the students’ social aptitude. However, the path for smooth integration is still new and widely unknown. Overall, Artificial intelligence negatively impacts a student’s social aptitude, and AI requires great development to support the education of American students.

AI may be helpful in many aspects of life including education. However, human teachers are essential to help students grow socially throughout school. What is your take on AI’s ability to replace teachers?

Fitria, Tira Nur. “The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED): Can Ai Replace the Teacher’s Role? | Epigram.” Research Gate, Oct. 2023, jurnal.pnj.ac.id/index.php/epigram/article/view/5711.

Murphy, Robert F. Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support K–12 Teachers and Teaching: A Review of Promising Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges. RAND Corporation, 2019. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19907

Schonert-Reichl, Kimberly A. “Social and Emotional Learning and Teachers.” The Future of Children, vol. 27, no. 1, 2017, pp. 137–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44219025.