Let machines think a little for Enablers of India

Much as we use our brains to think, perceive, accept and reject a matter, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been ghost-thinking for us ever since we invented computer science. And if you are still not clear about how AI is so every-day in our lives, you might want to pause for a while, relax and ask Alexa to play your favourite song.

The general belief is that Artificial Intelligence is a concept complicated enough to understand, leave alone learn. But in reality, it is not rocket science. AI is all-pervading, whether we choose to accept that truth or not. One cannot wish away the fact that most of the products that we use at home, workplace, educational institutions or in public these days are spiked with a fair dose of AI. This is the world we live in today and hence, there ought to be democracy of technology. So, why not make children who are grown enough to discern in their nascent world learn Artificial Intelligence? It's time those at the helm of developing curricula in keeping with changing methods of learning gave introducing AI early in school a serious thought.

One may ask if kids would really be able to understand AI and its use. It is in this context, let us not fall shy of accepting the fact that the lives of children today are immersed in AI, although they might not know about it – for instance, gaming. Irrespective of demographic locations, gaming and children have become synonymous. There are fears that artificial intelligence will stymie the grown of natural intellect in a child. But thoughts must be abandoned to the genuine possibility of clubbing Artificial Intelligence with the intellect a child is born in order to spur the thinking and cognitive processes in a child's mind. We are not talking about making robots out of a child or placing robots in classrooms.

One important takeaway of Artificial Intelligence is externally-sourced tutoring from professionals engaged in the education domain. Inside a classroom, or even off it, a student can sometimes be confronted with a situation in which he or she needs to seek assistance from fellow-students who have a greater learning capacity. This not only makes the student look small in the eyes of students, but embarrasses him or her as well.