Will AI Blow Away S$1.4 Billion Tuition Industry in Singapore?

As technology advances, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various sectors, including education.  By providing personalized learning experiences, immediate feedback, and round-the-clock availability, AI has the potential to transform traditional tutoring methods and meet the diverse educational needs of students. The question arises: Can AI address the growing demand for tuition in Singapore?

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Stronger and Stronger AI

AI techniques are developing very fast nowadays. It is becoming easier to generate a study curriculum, provide prompt feedback on students’ questions, and so forth. The upgrade for ChatGPT 4o greatly enhances AI usability and convenience.

One example is that Duolingo, the most famous language learning platform, has adopted GPT-4 to offer paid AI-powered features, “Explain My Answer” and “Roleplay”. This shows that, on the first hand, AI tools can excel at searching through the database or websites, providing immediate feedback. On the other hand, the embedded AI can play specific roles, like a hotel manager or a flight attendant, to help students immerse themselves into the learning process.

AI Solving Singapore Tuition Question Examples

Let's try asking ChatGPT 4o this science question. Here is the response:

The answer is accurate and detailed. Let's try one math proof question:

Here comes the answer:

However, there are counterexamples, when ChatGPT faces more complicated questions:

After a long analysis, it got the wrong answer.

(Wrong)

Hence, chatbots like ChatGPT-4 can reach a high level of accuracy. However, it is not 100%. This means that students or tutors cannot fully rely on AI to solve questions. The usage of AI-powered tools must be under surveillance.

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A Double-Edged Sword

These features could potentially outperform humans to some extent. Human teachers sometimes may encounter a question from students that they are not familiar with. Instead, AI could provide 24/7 feedback and handle questions repetitively. Roleplaying is also a useful feature. In particular, people can fine-tune the AI to make it suitable for personalized teaching by the technique called prompt engineering. Additionally, advanced AI can access vast amounts of information, providing up-to-date resources that might not be available to human teachers.

However, AI can hardly fulfill the roles of providing emotional support or mentorship. Human teachers can foster a sense of belonging and closeness during tuition, something AI cannot replicate. Another problem is the authenticity and reliability of AI-generated content. Since all AI models learn from existing data (websites and user input), they may generate problematic answers if the source data is flawed. This issue is especially serious in education, where students directly absorb knowledge from their teachers. Therefore, ethical concerns surrounding AI chatbots should be acknowledged. They should be managed and controlled by teachers and only serve as supplementary tools.

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AI’s advancements can significantly enhance education by offering personalized learning, immediate feedback, and immersive experiences through tools like ChatGPT. Beyond traditional uses, AI could also analyze students' learning patterns to tailor instruction further. However, human care is crucial to maintain emotional support and ensure the reliability of content. While AI can greatly augment educational methods, it should complement, not replace, human educators to provide a holistic and balanced learning experience.