Artificial intelligence has been around for some time now and it has earned a permanent spot in all industries including education. You can list the benefits and advantages of implementing AI in the education system such as better student engagement, personalized learning, virtual and augmented reality, improved accuracy in grading, etc...

Yes, the advantages mentioned above cannot be ignored but one should also consider the disadvantages and understand the negative aspects before deciding to completely trust Artificial Intelligence and implementing it in our education system. 

Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom

1.Decrease in Human Interaction:

One of the major concerns that experts point out while implementing Artificial Intelligence in educational institutions is that it can create a negative impact and put a dent in the development of social skills of the students, that they will eventually lose touch on how to interact with other human beings because they do not come in contact real people during class hours and it will social anxiety in the future when they pass out of school and step into the real world. They cannot possibly have the healthy social life that is required for an adult, and it will also affect their ability to secure jobs as well. 

2. Teachers going Jobless:

Another disadvantage that comes along when Artificial Intelligence is employed in education is that it will lead to a massive layoff of teachers. AI automates the job of teaching and provides guidance for students to learn on their own, therefore the need for a human instructor to do the same thing is zero. Even their presence is not a requirement to grade assignments as well, thus lowering the huge workload and saving much more time. But from a school's point of view, the lack of teachers is not a good sign at all.  

3. Financial Burden:

Implementing Artificial Intelligence in the educational sector can cause a lot of financial stress for the institution because AI is a developing, emerging tool, and the areas in which it can be utilized to its full potential are still being researched. Since AI is a new type of Software, there can be multiple chances of errors and glitches and scientists are still in the process of making Artificial Intelligence fool-proof and error-free, therefore, if such new technology is put to use in educational organizations, they have to cover the costs required to purchase the right hardware and software that can support the smooth functioning of Artificial Intelligence and its core capabilities. It may not be a feasible practical decision for schools to fund these high-end technologies and implement them in classrooms.

4. No Emotional Intelligence:

One of the major reasons Artificial Intelligence cannot be considered a good tool for education is because of its lack of emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication skills, something that is essential for teachers when they are teaching and imparting knowledge to students. They need to put their heart and soul into understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each student and make a great amount of effort to bridge the knowledge gaps. This requires human-to-human contact. They help students improve their social skills and eventually succeed after school, something that is impossible with AI. 

5. Data Issues & Privacy:

Another disadvantage of Artificial Intelligence which can also lead to fatal complications if not managed correctly is Data Security. AI is not yet a completely safe place, it is also prone to data theft and privacy mismanagement. It cannot decipher the learning patterns of thousands of students, because it is a near-impossible task to collect so much data for research and storage. And AI does not possess a one-size-fits-all algorithm that solves all our problems. Moreover, things can go wrong while acquiring such data like mislabeling and misplacement. It is essential to safeguard the privacy of the students while employing Artificial Intelligence for such purposes. 

6. Communication Hurdle:

Artificial Intelligence cannot be used as an alternative to human-to-human interaction, as of now it cannot be trusted with solutions to real-world problems, because the communication gap between humans and computers is still huge and there is a clear lack of understanding of how AI perceives human dialogue.  

7. Maintenance:

At the end of the Artificial Intelligence is a machine that works on a preset configuration, and like any other machine it is prone to external or internal damage. Moreover, AI should not be pushed beyond its capabilities, hence when complex tasks are being performed by Artificial Intelligence, make sure there is expert guidance otherwise it may lead to irreversible consequences.

8. Diminish the thinking power of the students:

The major reason why it is not a good idea to implement Artificial Intelligence in educational institutions is that it can affect the thinking capacity and responsiveness of the students, hence making them more and more dependent on technology for problem-solving instead of figuring out themselves. 

9. Biased System:

Artificial Intelligence function and operate on a set of data, which means, any kind of error or glitch in the data can lead the AI to produce biased and unequal results, which may have long-lasting consequences, sometimes even irreversible ones, especially during key situations such as finance management and hiring processes. 

Conclusion: 

The advent of Artificial Intelligence is currently revolutionizing the field of education, being the perfect digital assistant, AI is used for enhancing the process of learning, doing administrative tasks, improving student engagement, boosting interactive learning, utilizing virtual and augmented reality, making quicker decisions, enabling personalized learning, grading assignments and projects, reducing the work-load of the teachers, generating question papers and formulating mark sheets, hiring processes as well as making financial decisions. 

But whatever is said and done, Artificial Intelligence can never take the place of teachers. A machine will always be a machine, something that is programmed to produce desired outputs when we provide specific inputs. Artificial Intelligence certainly lacks the set of skills as well as the knowledge that is required to teach and uplift young minds. No cutting-edge technology can replace the depth and intensity of human interactions, and proper communication that play a huge role in the overall development of the future generation. They require a human approach to be taught, to be understood, to be encouraged and guided to do great things, an AI chatbot cannot accomplish that, but a great teacher can.