Prateek Maheshwari of PhysicsWallah stated that teachers are not significantly worried about job losses due to AI, according to the AI Alliance NCR.
No Major Fear of Job Losses Among Teachers Due to AI, Says PhysicsWallah’s Prateek Maheshwari
Prateek Maheshwari, co-founder of edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah, stated that teachers are not significantly worried about losing their jobs due to the introduction of advanced AI models. Speaking at the Moneycontrol and CNBC-TV18 AI Alliance NCR Chapter in Gurugram on May 17, Maheshwari explained, “There is no big fear among our teachers right now because currently GPT cannot solve IIT advance problems. It’s failing at that! So there is not much effort needed to assure them, but they also see this as an opportunity.”
This statement comes amidst the launch of OpenAI’s GPT-4.o, which has powerful abilities in reasoning and coding intelligence, posing a potential threat to edtech companies. However, Maheshwari emphasized that AI will positively impact teacher and student productivity.
Pratham Mittal, founder of edtech company Masters’ Union, shared how AI simplifies the assessment process in hiring. “We have seen AI make a significant difference in assessment. Interviewing 5000 applicants to select 500 is costly, but AI-powered assessments with human oversight can effectively rank and identify the best students,” he said. Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of upGrad, added that AI will improve information dissemination while maintaining the essential roles of teachers and mentors. “The social contract in education is still very important. Despite the availability of textbooks and videos, universities and institutions remain relevant,” Kumar noted.
Edtech experts believe the real challenge is training teachers to effectively use new AI models like GPT-4.o, which excels in text, reasoning, coding, multilingual, audio, and vision capabilities. “The real challenge is how to train them in prompting correctly and making the right use of AI,” Maheshwari said.
Kumar highlighted that companies recognizing AI’s potential are prioritizing upskilling. “Companies that have figured it out are focusing on comprehensive skilling, training frontline staff on using the tool, mid-level staff on implementing it, and top leadership on building a mindset that facilitates easier task execution,” he explained.
