Artificial Intelligence is now a part of our normal lives. We are surrounded by this technology from automatic parking systems, smart sensors for taking spectacular photos, and personal assistance. Similarly, Artificial Intelligence in education is being felt, and the traditional methods are changing drastically. At the World Innovation Summit for Education global summit in Doha, Qatar, I sat with Professor of Learner Centred Design at the UCL Knowledge Lab in London, whose research involves the design and evaluation of educational technology using theories from the learning sciences and techniques from Artificial Intelligence (AI). "AI has come to stay in our life. So, I think we need the population at large to understand more about Artificial Intelligence (AI). So that they can use it to their benefits. And so that they can keep themselves safe. And we need a small percentage of the population to understand enough about AI. To be the people who develop the next generation of AI technology. And we need a small percentage of the population to understand enough about AI. To develop the next generation of ethical guidelines and regulations for AI. And actually, we don't really know how to regulate and provide people with the right guidelines for development. But we need more people to understand enough about AI to help with the process. And then the third area and that we need to pay attention to, is to change the way that we educate and train the people. Because the world is changing and much of that change is driven by automation. So, we need to think about how we change our education systems. So, these areas are not different. There are areas all of which we need to pay attention to."

Might such things as school examinations, tests, marked classwork and progress checks soon all be a thing of the past? They will be if Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner-Centred Design at the Knowledge Lab at the University College, London (UCL) Institute of Education, has her way. She argues that the way school pupils are assessed today is unsatisfactory. "Decades of research have shown that knowledge and understanding cannot be rigorously evaluated through a series of 90-minute exams. The prevailing exam paradigm is stressful, unpleasant, can turn students away from education, and requires that both students and teachers take time away from learning. And yet we persist in relying on these blunt instruments, sending students off to universities and the workplace ill-equipped for their futures," writes Professor Luckin in a research paper.

"Artificial intelligence is not just the next step in innovative learning," says Rose Luckin, a self-described learning scientist at University College London. "This technology can identify emotional states of students as well as their meta-cognitive states," she says, "and tailor learning accordingly." Previous forms of technology fell far short of this kind of capability. Rose recently co-authored a paper titled "Intelligence Unleashed: An argument for AI in Education.") Rose says artificial intelligence in education, also called AIed, can also further facilitate deeper collaboration between learners--and help teachers differentiate their instruction in order to meet every learner's needs.

In a world where digital tools support virtually every part of our lives, why is it that the full power of such tools has yet to be unleashed to those who might benefit most - educators and learners? In the latest of its series of publications concerning digital learning, Intelligence Unleashed: An Argument for AI in Education, Pearson, in collaboration with the UCL Knowledge Lab, maps out how artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) can be used to create learning tools that are more efficient, flexible and inclusive than those currently available; tools that will help learners prepare for an economy that is swiftly being reshaped by digital technologies. The authors, led by Professor Rose Luckin of the UCL Knowledge Lab, highlight existing and emergent technology that could be leveraged to address some of the most intractable issues in education, including achievement gaps. For example, technology available today could be applied to support student learning at a scale previously unimaginable by providing one-on-one tutoring to every student, in every subject. Existing technologies also have the capacity to provide intelligent support to learners working in a group, and to create authentic virtual learning environments where students have the right support, at the right time, to tackle real-life problems and puzzles.