Under the ancient education system, individualized instruction was the ideal method of teaching: In private schools, for example, there was a relatively small number of students, which allowed teachers to provide differentiated instruction tailored to each student’s learning situation. However, under the current education system post-industrialization, students enroll in schools to acquire knowledge and receive relatively standardized instruction.
However, with the rapid development of technology, sources of learning are no longer limited to the knowledge imparted in schools. The new generation of students are digital natives, who are increasingly drawing their knowledge from the Internet — including knowledge shared on platforms such as Google, YouTube and ChatGPT — becoming a new model of learning for the future.
Many young students even use OpenAI’s large models to complete their homework, and the work produced by artificial intelligence (AI) might even be better that of some of their classmates. This has fundamentally disrupted the traditional definition of education and knowledge acquisition models.
Technology has also made studying more efficient, allowing students to take the initiative and learn on their own — a new model of future knowledge acquisition.
The learning efficiency of traditional modes of teaching cannot compete with that of AI. Therefore, for educators, determining how the role of future teachers would leverage these emerging technologies — how to employ AI-powered tools to supplement instruction — is a new and challenging task, as AI would become a teaching assistant.
In particular, as a teacher’s time is limited, it is difficult to meet the individual learning needs of every student. AI could be utilized as a clone of the teacher’s thinking, allowing students to interact with the teacher’s AI counterpart. It could take on the traditional roles of “imparting moral principles, teaching knowledge and resolving doubts,” allowing it to satisfy students’ educational needs in various applicable scenarios.
This AI counterpart would be similar to an athletic coach, playing the role of a learning companion. It could guide students from one point to another, accompanying them step by step throughout their studies.
As students have different learning goals, utilizing technology can allow for large-scale customization. By taking each student’s unique intelligence, interests, learning pace and objectives, AI could help achieve the ideal of individualized instruction.
This way, education could transform from the outdated standardized approach to one that provides customized instruction for every student. This is why I say that in the future, AI would drive a paradigm shift in the education industry. I look forward to seeing professionals seize this opportunity, whether teachers or those working in the broader education and training sector.
AI possesses vast knowledge and intelligence — and it is very clever — but it is not wise. Human brains are alive, and wisdom is born out of accumulated experience. However, AI is an excellent tool that can help us handle many problems and, of course, is directly applicable to the frontlines in the field of education, as dialogue with AI can allow students to learn.
In the future, everyone would be able to make good use of AI as a new tool, making work and study more efficient. AI can also present various perspectives on issues, allowing us to consider them more comprehensively and reduce potential blind spots in our thinking, thereby minimizing decisionmaking errors.
I have created a GPT-based AI persona called “Stan’s ‘Kingly Way’ Clone — Adan AI,” which allows ordinary people to engage in dialogue with an AI embodying the wangdao (王道) or the “Kingly Way” — a Confucian concept that advocates ruling by moral rightness and benevolence. In organizational training, this AI could serve as a teaching assistant on principled leadership, enhancing learning efficiency.
I plan to further develop AI personas on various themes, such as “kingly transformation” and “kingly accounting,” employing AI agents to create ubiquitous AI clones with diverse applications.
I believe AI would drive a paradigm shift in the education industry. We must proactively leverage AI technologies and use its intelligence as a learning tool while maintaining a people-oriented approach.
AI would play an important role in the vertical division of labor throughout this process, but humans would ultimately play the integral role, creating new value for society.
Stan Shih is the founder and honorary chairman of Acer Group.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
A 50-year-old on Wednesday last week died while under anesthesia at a Taipei cosmetic clinic shortly after undergoing a penis enlargement procedure. The surgeon was arrested for suspected medical malpractice, again bringing to the surface shortcomings in the regulation of cosmetic medicine. Media reports said the clinic owner and surgeon, surnamed Ting (丁), was previously convicted of negligent homicide for a postsurgical death and had been charged with coercion and aggravated assault after allegedly stopping a patient from calling for an ambulance. He had also been fined for failing inspections and had allegedly permitted people without medical licenses to assist
It was most annoying last week to read Chairman Xi Jinping’s (習近平) fulsome encomium to the People’s Liberation Army during the Eightieth Anniversary celebrations of victory over Japan in World War II. Comrade Xi’s soaring rhetoric was stuffed with “martyrs, sacrifice, solemnity and unwavering resolve” in praise of the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.” His aspirations overflowed with “world peace” and love of the United Nations, of which China is a founding member. The Liberation Army Daily said that every word from General Secretary Xi Jinping “resounded in his powerful voice, illuminating the
Before the break of dawn, the streets are full of countless teens rushing to class with backpacks in hand — a scene that has long been part of Taiwan’s educational landscape. Recently, a citizen-initiated petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for delaying junior-high and high-school class starting times to 10am and ending at 4pm has once again drawn society’s attention to students’ health and daily routines, triggering debate over topics from sleep and biological clocks to the pressures of the academic system. Supporters and opponents of the petition have their own perspectives, but what is truly worth reflecting on
US trade policy under US President Donald Trump has placed tariffs at the center of economic statecraft. However, Trump has repeatedly shifted positions, demanded sky-high concessions, and renegotiated after agreements — ranging from stacking reciprocal tariffs to the unsettled scope of Section 232 duties — while pressing global semiconductor industries to invest trillions of dollars in the US. For Taiwan, merely reacting to these moves would leave us boxed in. Therefore, government and industry must join forces to pursue a broader strategic vision that sustains Taiwan’s competitiveness. Recent revelations about US-South Korea tariff talks provide an example. South Korea offered tens
RSS