The integration of artificial intelligence in education raises urgent concerns about minimizing harm, particularly when it comes to preventing students from using AI to cheat on assignments and keeping them safe from potential online threats. A recent survey by the Fordham Institute found that a quarter of high schoolers admitted to using AI to cheat on essays and assignments.
However, the most important concerns surrounding AI and education relate to the future of work. With the accelerating tech cognitive revolution, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to predict which occupations may shrink or disappear. For older students, schools need to prepare them to make a living, making any reasonable guesses at future careers highly valuable.
The Future of Work
A new book, Messy Jobs: The Work That AI Cannot Reach, by Luis Garicano, Jin Li, and Yanhui Wu, offers valuable insights into the future of work. The book, highly recommended by Tyler Cowen, provides a persuasive explanation of what AI is likely to do to the labor market. The authors, all economists, expect that plenty of human work will remain, including jobs in education that may not directly boost economic output.
The authors argue that jobs that will not be automated are “messy,” involving complex tasks that are hard to specify in advance and difficult to split from each other. These jobs often require dealing with humans, conflict, and complicated internal politics, making them difficult to automate. Examples of such jobs include running a factory or a family, which involve many different tasks that are hard to automate.
According to the authors, jobs that amount to a single routine task or a bundle of routine tasks can and will be automated. However, many jobs are “tight bundles” that are hard to break apart and difficult to automate, and these jobs often involve dealing with humans and complicated internal politics.
The authors suggest that the trends identified by Harvard professor David Deming will still apply, where the labor market increasingly rewards people who combine analytical thinking with the ability to work well with other people.
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As the authors note, “a consistent pattern runs through decades of data: The labor market increasingly rewards people who combine analytical thinking with the ability to work well with other people.” This means that schools should focus on developing students‘ cognitive capacities and helping them become experts in something, while also teaching them people skills.
Developing students’ cognitive capacities is essential, as it enables them to use AI effectively and spot errors or misjudgments. Moreover, both cognitive capacity and people skills are necessary for participating in democracy and competent citizenship.
For instance, the authors argue that jobs that involve sitting in meetings, working toward decisions with colleagues and clients, selling to customers, or solving problems will be hard to automate. These jobs require a combination of analytical thinking and people skills, making them more resistant to automation.
As the authors explain, “All knowledge work varies along one dimension: messiness.” This means that jobs that are more complex and involve multiple tasks will be harder to automate, while jobs that involve routine tasks will be more susceptible to automation.
Many jobs in education, such as teaching and counseling, also involve complex tasks and human interaction, making them less susceptible to automation.
Preparing Students for the Future
The authors suggest that schools should prepare students for a future where AI will play a major role in the workforce. By focusing on developing students’ cognitive capacities and people skills, schools can help them succeed in a rapidly changing job market.
