No. AI Won’t Replace Music Teachers.
If you’ve been reading my blog over the past year, you probably have noticed that I have been thinking a LOT about AI and it’s impact on music creation and music teaching. During that time I have had dozens of conversations with music educators from around the world who all share a similar fear - that AI will replace them. I’m telling you now - that won’t happen. While AI has some incredible potential in the world of music and will continue to be a transformative and disruptive force, it cannot and will not replace music educators - or classroom educators in general. I’m talking specifically about PK-12 educators here. Below are 3 BIG reasons that should calm any fears that educators might have about losing their job to an AI bot.
Teachers Are Essential
If the pandemic taught us anything, especially parents and students, its that in person instruction and interaction is of paramount importance to the education process. The learning loss experienced during the 2 years that teachers and students dealt with fully remote and hybrid instruction has made it very clear that not being together in a classroom is detrimental to learning and growth. The idea that an AI bot would replace a teacher and students would sit at home and learn in an online environment is not a viable option at all. Parents depend on their children being at school - often so that they can work. The notion that AI bot would be used for in person instruction is also not viable. When TVs and VCRS first appeared, the same fear happened. Teachers were very nervous that students would be placed in classrooms with para-professionals (basically baby sitters) while watching TV all day. Laughable to think about. Students NEED passionate and skilled educators in order to learn. Students make powerful connections with their teachers - as mentors, role models, and sometimes even a parental figure. AI bots will never be a viable substitute for a highly qualified teacher.
EdTech Companies NEED Teachers
Why would ANY ed tech company create software or hardware that would replace their customers? As someone who runs a successful ed tech company, I can assure you that we don’t have any plans (nor will we ever) to create software that would replace the teacher. If you know anything about my philosophy of tech integration, you know that technology is a tool that when put in the hands of a highly skilled educator, can transform learning and greatly increase student engagement. An animated AI bot can’t do that. What you will see, and what we are working on, is AI integrations that make your jobs easier. AI has the power to analyze vast swaths of data. AI can make administrative tasks infinitely easier. AI can make information retrieval fast and convenient. Although I don’t know what (if anything) my competitors are currently working on in the AI space, I can guarantee you - as someone who has been in the corporate world for 16 years - that any AI plans are to entice you to differentiate their offerings over their competitors so that you buy their products - not to eliminate you. I promise :)
AI is Good, But it AIn’t THAT Good
If you’re anything like me, the first time you typed something into ChatGPT it probably took your breath away. It sure did for me. The first concerns for educators was that ChatGPT could be used by students to do their homework. What most didn’t realize is that the students had been using it for MONTHS before folks like us found it. When I came home a year ago and asked my kids if they knew about ChatGPT, they smiled and said of course - everyone uses it. But over the past year I have noticed a LOT of flaws in the generative pre-trained transformers that are out there. Their data set is limited to January of 2022. The more prompts I supply, the more I realize that ChatGPT is a piece of software. There is no wizard behind a curtain. It’s easy to trick, easy to get incorrect information, and it certainly doesn’t understand kids. All of the AI bots that are using conversational AI are limited to the data that they’ve been trained on. If it’s not readily available online for free, it doesn’t know about it. If you think about the many facets of teaching music, there is simply no way that an AI bot can diagnose why a 6th grade concert band isn’t able to play through a piece. It can’t know whether a student has practiced or not. It can disseminate which student isn’t playing the correct note. It doesn’t know which clarinet player is 40 cents flat because they are playing on a broken reed. It can’t see when a student has something going on in their personal life that is affecting their participation in the rehearsal. It can’t see that a trumpet student just got braces and suddenly can’t play. It doesn’t know that your string bass player is dyslexic and needs assistance with reading their notes. YOU know that. AI will never know that.
But what about private teachers? Those that teach private lessons? To that I remind everyone that YouTube has now been around for 17 years and has millions of tutorial videos on how to play every instrument under the sun and how to sing. There are TONS of apps on the app store that teach you how to play the piano and the guitar. Have these two technologies replaced private music teachers? No. Maybe there are a few less students, but I don’t think that YouTube or an app could ever replace the experience of sitting next to a teacher in a lesson, having a good sound modeled for the student, catching the smallest nuances of how a student is holding an instrument, what their embouchure looks like, their posture while singing. NONE of this can be corrected by software. Correct pitches and rhythms? Intonation? Sure. Anything else? No.
I’ll leave you with this. You know how to comfort, guide, coach, encourage, cheerlead, discipline, motivate, and lead. AI can’t, and even if it tried, do you think it would ever be as effective as YOU? Music teachers are very special people with lived experiences, talents, and creativity. They are natural leaders. If you ever think that AI might replace you, remember that.