Imagine, as an educator, you went from point A to point B riding a beautiful cruiser bike through the French countryside, and you tell people how great it is to ride a bike. Generative AI is an electric bicycle. You will still be able to see the French countryside. Still need to understand how to ride a bike. There are still elements of balance and movement. But the generative AI lets you discover bits of the French countryside you might not have been able to appreciate because you were pedaling up a hill or lacked the cardiovascular capacity to take advantage of the distance.

Generative AI in the context of education means we get things done. I think the reason we mess things up is we try to make things better. We try to go faster. We try to improve the human experience. And in doing so, we unleash more unique human abilities.

We see that there has already been adoption of generative AI in the private sector. What do you think of how generative AI will reshape the way organizations work?

Generative AI truncates some things humans aren’t necessarily good at so we can spend more time where we excel: being highly creative, highly empathetic, and highly engaged with the experience around us. Generative AI is reshaping these organizations to have highly adaptable employees with flexible thinking. We see that the companies that adapt are also those that survive; there’s this adaptability quotient. What will we do as a society to be better prepared to handle the next thing?

What does this mean for today’s students?

I hope this will give students the motivation to unlock opportunities for the rest of their lives. Education is not just the way to get a job; the educational experience is really about developing flexibility and metacognition. The fact that you become these powerful thinkers, that you are creative, and that you build a network of colleagues, students, and professors, can inspire you to come up with some really good ideas that you can put to use after college. That’s exciting!

Institutions need to prepare students for a new world of work where generative AI will play a central role. How could they approach this?

First, institutions need to work with a partner who can ensure the security settings are in place. For Grammarly, this is fundamental. Then I suggest that institutions simply start; this great journey begins with a single step. Choose your passionate people who are excited about this change and driven by innovation, and ask them to help you reach different departments to bring colleagues along the way. Change is difficult. Find your catalysts on campus and seek to integrate generative AI where it will have the most impact.

Conversations abound right now in educational institutions. There is this fear that institutions will have analysis paralysis around generative AI. But I’m very optimistic that universities are mobilizing around this, rapidly deploying these tools and adjusting policies to respond to students where they are now.

Generative AI is not perfect. Grammarly helps students use this technology responsibly to improve their education. We want students to be prepared for a changing workforce. We want them to master things that haven’t been created yet, and that boils down to soft skills. How do you create highly empathetic and highly adaptable adults? We may not be able to train them in technology that doesn’t yet exist, but we can train them to be flexible and willing to try and even fail.

What do you see as the main benefits and challenges of integrating generative AI into the educational experience?

An immediate benefit for students is to quickly understand the topics and find a starting point. This can speed up the speed at which students jump into a task and also speed up the transfer of information from teacher to student. I think back to my analogy with the electric bike. Students have the opportunity to use generative AI as a tool that allows them to explore areas in which they would otherwise lack confidence. There is untapped potential to excite people for new territories.

A challenge of generative AI is that we don’t know exactly what we don’t know about it. Obviously, we need to be integrity aware and make sure we don’t trust anything that’s generated. We need guardrails for the e-bike. But I think we will see teachers and students coming together on this journey. I think the professors will be seen more as trainers of the course rather than as holders of knowledge. I believe this change is long overdue and will be welcomed by students and institutions.

Every faculty member I’ve met who is truly passionate about what they do tells me that they’ve had these life-changing moments in their careers when they see this journey in their students. This tool will help bridge the perceived power dynamic between who has all the information and who does not.

Grammarly is committed to responsible AI innovation and development that encourages students to apply academic integrity that facilitates learning and education. The following resources explore Grammarly’s approach to generative AI in education and how institutions can navigate this new technology.