Artificial intelligence (AI) has stormed into our lives, becoming an inseparable part of our work, leisure, and virtually every imaginable field – from content creation to aviation, automotive, and even medicine, which enthusiastically embraces its boundless capabilities.
Yet, lagging far behind is the field of education, alongside educational institutions still hesitant to fully adopt the technology. Some might call this “conservatism,” others “caution.”
However, with proper and institutional use of AI, we can achieve numerous pedagogical advantages, such as tailoring teaching methods to each student’s personal needs, easing teachers’ workloads and making education more creative, engaging, and modern. If harnessed on time, these advantages could turn Israeli students into global leaders.
In a classroom with 30 to 40 students, providing personal attention to each child – a necessity in 2025 – is challenging. While teachers have limited free time, and private tutors are not affordable for all, AI can fill this gap. By utilizing the technology effectively, every student can learn at their own pace, receive immediate feedback, and focus on the areas where they face difficulties.
According to many experts, AI is on the verge of a major breakthrough. We’ve had a taste of its capabilities in recent years, but the coming year will reveal its true power and benefits.
At this crossroads, education policymakers in Israel must act. Similar to the well-known parable about teaching a hungry person to fish instead of giving them fish, this is the time to teach students how to use AI tools alongside traditional lessons and formulas.
Incorporating AI in the education system not only enables students to learn how to operate and understand advanced technologies but also encourages them to develop logical and creative thinking, problem-solving skills, and collaboration with automated tools.
The future workforce
Furthermore, AI equips students with the tools to adapt to the future workforce, where technological skills are more crucial than ever, and in many cases, the ability to learn outweighs mere knowledge.
This is not just theoretical but also practical. AI offers quality tools that, if taught wisely, can build a new generation striving for excellence. For instance, AI can turn every child into a creator, enabling them to process images and videos, compose music, produce films, write songs, develop apps, and create professional content. Students can use AI to realize new ideas and experiment with methods previously inaccessible to them.
AI also helps students distinguish between the essential and the trivial. In today’s terms, it allows them to optimize their studies by focusing on areas where they need help or where they show talent. It can speed up tedious or repetitive tasks, such as data processing or creating graphic outputs, freeing time for creative thinking and the development of original ideas.
LIKE NEARLY every new technology or social media platform, using AI in education has its less glamorous side, especially in a system that naturally and rightly views many challenges alongside opportunities. Concerns include students becoming superficial, avoiding reading texts or books, not summarizing information themselves, or even losing basic social skills.
There’s also the fear that the next generation will stop developing essential skills like creative thinking, independent problem-solving, and self-learning. What about traditional homework?
For teachers, one challenge is detecting when students simply copy answers using AI instead of engaging in genuine learning. Additionally, discerning a student’s abilities versus those of the algorithm – or identifying instances where the information provided by AI is inaccurate or unfounded – can be daunting.
There’s no doubt that the education system has a long way to go to instill these capabilities while also embedding ethical values, critical thinking, filtering misleading information, and the ability not to take everything at face value.
AI can free up teachers’ time, allowing them to focus on these crucial elements both within and beyond the classroom.
To achieve this – especially now, before AI’s breakthrough year – the education system must embrace progress rather than resist it. It should adapt to the AI era and leverage technological skills for the benefit of students and teachers alike.
No doubt that AI will enter the education system whether we like it or not, just as Google and Wikipedia replaced libraries, and TikTok has taken over students’ leisure time.
Therefore, it is crucial to introduce AI into the system in an organized way, led by the education authorities. The system must seize this potential by implementing a dedicated AI curriculum that equips students with essential skills to prepare them for both military service and future employment.
In the past, success was measured by the number of students completing five-unit math and English final exams – a barometer of excellence. If we wish to influence and lead, we must begin measuring the percentage of students completing AI studies. From here, it’s a short step to introducing a five-unit AI at the final diploma.
The writer is vice president of technologies at Dell Technologies.