As I enter the field of instructional design and study the emerging technology of artificial intelligence, I can't help but wonder if AI will advance so far that it will eventually take away human jobs or, more specifically, the jobs of instructional designers.  Many of you who responded to my blog expressed interest in AI and were intrigued by AI capabilities and how AI advancements could improve a human's life while, at the same time, you shared my concerns with the negative impact AI may have on society.  It could be the concerns we share about AI exist because we watch entirely too many SciFi movies.  Hollywood seems to give the impression that machines are already so intelligent they're secretly conspiring for a major take over of society as we know it.  That said, the idea that AI could advance so far that it would have a negative impact on society or could end humankind as we know it is not completely detached from reality.  In fact, Stephen Hawking who was one of the biggest advocates for the use of AI also warned of how artificial intelligence could end humankind as we know it (See this article expressing some of Hawkins concerns with AI as well as how he personally benefited from AI at the following link https://theconversation.com/stephen-hawking-warned-about-the-perils-of-artificial-intelligence-yet-ai-gave-him-a-voice-93416).  While Stephen Hawking's warnings about the dangers of AI could have been used as the basis for creating some intriguing SciFi movies, the AI Stephen Hawking seemed to caution us about is still decades away, if it will even happen at all.  

I personally believe, while AI may takeover many jobs, there are simply some jobs AI will not take over because AI lacks the emotional intelligence of humans.  Just like Charles Pittman eluded to in the comments, AI does not have the ability to relate to humans.  Therefore, the quality of education would be sacrificed if machines were teaching a class.  As it stands, the capability of AI is very objective in that it makes connections and recommendations based solely on the information and data it is fed without taking into account the human dimension of a problem or situation.  Because instructional designers look at bridging performance gaps based on a learning strategy that addresses issues with knowledge, skills, and attitude deficiencies,  I feel as if instructional designers can, should, and will maintain an important role in education and training.  Let's face it, a machine may be able to analyze a performance problem, make recommendations on curriculum design, and provide individualized recommendations based on the processing of enormous data, but a machine can't currently make a recommendation or understand how a student's attitude may be preventing them from learning.  Thus, a machine could not provide a subjective recommendation to a client about how best to motivate students with a negative attitude toward learning.  

Just as our professor indicates, AI is already used in many aspects in the field of education and instructional design.  In my opinion, we should continue to embrace the use of AI in the field of instructional design especially in those aspects where a machine could do our job more efficiently like analyzing an enormous amount of data.  Allowing AI to do the analytical aspect of our job could free up an instructional designer to focus more on developing and designing training for our clients.  What other ways can you think of that we can use AI in the field of instructional design?  Are there other aspects of the role of an instructional designer other than the ability to subjectively look at the needs of a client based on attitudes or behaviors that a machine can't do currently in our place? 

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Until next time.  

Anthony