The AI Education Arms Race: GPT-4o and LearnLM Showcase the Transformation and Turbulence of Personalized Learning

I am dedicating this week’s newsletter to major AI enhancements announced by OpenAI and Google.

The AI arms race in education is heating up. This week, both OpenAI and Google unveiled a slew of AI-powered enhancements that could significantly impact teaching and learning. While some are months away from being available, others will have immediate ramifications. In all, I’m excited by the potential of these tools, but also concerned about the challenges they present.

Let's start with OpenAI's GPT-4o. This new free model represents a significant step towards personalized learning experiences. Unlike previous iterations, GPT-4o seamlessly integrates text, vision, and audio inputs and outputs, allowing for more natural, multi-modal interactions. The new ChatGPT Voice interface, with its ability to handle interruptions, employ human-like mannerisms, and even perceive a user's emotions (!), feels like a major leap towards the AI tutors many tech advocates have long imagined. Furthermore, according to OpenAI, GPT-4o is twice as fast and 50% cheaper than GPT-4 Turbo, which was its most advanced GPT model until this week.

With its advanced natural language processing and adaptability, GPT-4o could potentially provide learners with highly tailored learning experiences. I watched OpenAI’s GPT-4o demo and I was amazed by how quickly and naturally ChatGPT was able to converse. As demonstrated in an accompanying video, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a student is working through a physics problem with GPT-4o - they can simply hold their work up to a camera and get step-by-step guidance from the AI tutor, complete with encouraging voice prompts. Or, a child with dyslexia is getting one-on-one reading support from an endlessly patient AI tutor. This type of "in-the-moment" support could be transformative, especially for struggling learners.

Also exciting is the potential of GPT-4o-powered GPTs to extend the benefits of AI tutoring to more learners. By opening up the ChatGPT store to free users, OpenAI is potentially ensuring access to a wealth of educational resources. Consensus, Research GPT and TutorMe (Khanmigo Lite) are just a few examples of the innovative GPTs that educational organizations and teachers have created. As more educators share their expertise through the GPT format, we could see a proliferation of quality, AI-enhanced learning materials.

For its part, Google is not sitting idle. At their I/O conference, they introduced LearnLM, a new family of models designed to tutor students conversationally. LearnLM aims to create engaging, personalized learning experiences by leveraging principles from learning science, focusing on inspiring active learning, managing cognitive load, adapting to individual learners, stimulating curiosity, and deepening metacognition.

More specifically, Google Classroom will leverage LearnLM to simplify and improve lesson planning, helping teachers discover new ideas, unique activities, and engaging materials. Importantly, it will also assist in differentiating lessons and content to meet each student's needs. While Google may be playing catch-up to the likes of MagicSchool and ChatGPT in terms of AI lesson planning, the tight integration with their popular education suite could be a major advantage.

I'm particularly intrigued by the 'Learning Coach' Gem – a custom chatbot that serves as a subject-matter expert. It’s designed to prompt students to think through problems, rather than simply providing answers. ChatGPT can do this as well, but a student would have to tell ChatGPT not to give it the correct answer. (And how many students will do that?) If it works as advertised,  'Learning Coach' could be a valuable tool for developing critical thinking skills.

Google also showcased some impressive platform integrations. 'Circle to Search' on Android allows users to highlight something on the screen – say, a math or physics problem – and receive step-by-step explanations, while a new YouTube feature lets viewers ask questions during videos. This kind of contextual, on-demand support could make learning far more accessible.

Moreover, Google is also rolling out its latest mainstream language model, Gemini 1.5 Pro, into the sidebar for Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Gmail. For paid subscribers, this will provide a versatile AI assistant within the Workspace environment, capable of working with all your Drive content and generating emails, documents, polls, surveys, and more. Since many school districts subscribe to Google Workspace for Education, and many teachers are wedded to Google tools, advanced AI features in Drive will likely be warmly welcomed by teachers. 

Despite all these AI enhancements, I’m worried about teacher reaction. As with any AI tool, hallucinations are a real concern. Neither OpenAI nor Google explicitly addressed this issue, which is disappointing. Teachers are understandably wary of AI chatbots providing inaccurate information to their students. We need more transparency and proactive solutions from the tech giants on this front.

I’m also concerned about the ethical implications of AI like GPT-4o. OpenAI has made the model available for free, which is admirable in terms of democratizing access. (Or, is simply a good marketing decision.) But it also means students now have a more powerful AI to complete assignments and write their papers, bypassing the "struggle" that is often central to learning. As AI writing becomes better, this could mean teachers resort to in-class handwriting, effectively excluding technology. For any out-of-class work, teachers will need to critically examine to what extent they are assessing a student's own thinking vs. their ability to prompt an AI. And they won’t be happy about it. 

Teacher discomfort with AI is already abundantly clear in the slow adoption of AI tools in classrooms, and this will likely heighten when students return in the fall. I don’t expect all teachers to cheerily embrace AI integration in their classrooms simply because it offers new personalization features for their students.

Despite these challenges, I believe the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Used thoughtfully, AI tools could unlock more equitable, personalized learning experiences at an unprecedented scale. But realizing this potential will require a major shift in mindset and significant investment in teacher training.

Educators can't just shy away from these AI tools and pretend they don't exist. By fall, our students will have the world's most advanced language models at their fingertips, for free. As daunting as it may seem, we must rise to the challenge and proactively design educational experiences that harness the power of AI while also nurturing uniquely human capacities. With visionary leadership and a commitment to continuous learning, we can shape an educational future in which AI is a powerful ally in the quest for equity and excellence. The time to start preparing is now.