Artificial intelligence in education. Is fear all in our minds?

“It will either be the best thing that has ever happened to us — or the worst. If we’re not careful, it could well be the last.” — Stephen Hawking

Why does the rise of artificial intelligence give us goosebumps, trembling hands, and a racing heartbeat? Deep down, we fear the rebellion of the machines — that they might seize control and turn us into their powerless subjects. We fear losing our jobs, and that the world of emotions may vanish forever into oblivion. Sounds like the plot of a good American thriller, doesn’t it?

A Special-Task Assistant

Anything can happen — nothing is set in stone. But for a moment, let’s put on our rose-tinted glasses and look at how AI can actually help teachers in their work.

Natural Language Processing

AI-powered natural language processing tools are gaining immense popularity. They allow us to hold conversations with chatbots capable of answering questions or helping with complex tasks from writing essays to generating code. AI can also support teachers directly during classes.

One increasingly common example is the use of virtual assistants built on advanced NLP techniques that can converse with students. These chatbots answer preliminary questions about a topic, preparing learners for deeper discussions with their human instructors.

Image Recognition

Some classes already make use of applications based on image and symbol recognition for instance, apps that identify handwritten math equations, scan text, or automatically generate infographics.

“Our students from Computer Science, Data Engineering, or postgraduate studies in Artificial Intelligence and Business Process Automation already work with large data sets and build their own AI engineering solutions using machine learning, deep learning, and image recognition algorithms,”says Dr. Eng. Karol Flisikowski, Associate Professor at the Department of Statistics and Econometrics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdańsk University of Technology.

Document Processing

AI-based document processing has been used for several years now, successfully automating entire information cycles. Recognition and language analysis models continue to reach new levels of sophistication. Many universities have already developed intelligent tools that respond to students’ queries about courses, exams, administration, recruitment, and other academic procedures.

Generating New Variants

Another interesting use of chatbots is generating contrasting examples showing students alternative solutions to the same problem under different assumptions. A mathematics teacher can thus ask the system to produce many correct solution methods or rewrite the same text in various styles.

Personalizing the Learning Process

Every student has different strengths and weaknesses and learns at their own pace. AI-based software can learn from patterns and examples to deliver personalized learning paths — tasks at the right level, delivered at the right time and in the most effective context.

AI also opens new opportunities for e-learning. In MOOCs (massive open online courses), companies such as Coursera, Udemy, and edX already use intelligent content selection systems, code interpreters, knowledge tests, and automated feedback. On platforms like Moodle (which underpins our eNauczanie system), such solutions are still emerging — but even now, with a bit of creativity, teachers can integrate external AI tools into their own e-courses.

Boosting Engagement

Artificial intelligence can make classes more engaging and improve quality. For example, AI-generated virtual reality environments simulate real-life scenarios — from surgical procedures to engineering tasks — enriching textbooks with immersive, hands-on experiences.

AI also powers gamified learning environments, identifies student interests, and provides an extra shot of dopamine through well-designed challenge-and-reward systems.

Supporting Students with Disabilities

AI also increases accessibility for students with hearing or vision impairments, or for those who struggle with the language of instruction. Tools like real-time transcription (e.g., in MS Teams) are now widely available. This technology can also help students take notes (speech-to-text, OCR) or even complete written exams.

Smarter Evaluation

AI algorithms can be used for automatic knowledge assessment. Such grading combines image and text recognition with deep-learning-based contextual language models (NLP) to understand a test and assign the right grade.

Recently, our Gdańsk Tech e-learning platform introduced offline tests: teachers can prepare paper tests from their question banks, scan student responses, and the system automatically recognizes, analyses, and grades them then uploads the results to the online gradebook.

AI can even assess open-ended answers such as essays. Although still in development, such features are being rolled out across major MOOC platforms. Similar mechanisms are now used for plagiarism detection increasingly effective thanks to advanced text-analysis models.

Methodological Support

AI can detect a high rate of incorrect answers and suggest to teachers which questions may be misleading. It can also indicate which types of content are most effective and even recommend adjustments to teaching strategies based on data-driven predictions.

AI Tools Worth Exploring (2025 Edition)

• Answer Generation: ChatGPT (the world’s most recognized AI chatbot) now integrates text, code, image, and reasoning capabilities.Google Gemini (Education Edition) is emerging as a strong companion for students and teachers, offering learning-focused modes and source transparency.

• Image Generation: DALL·E 3 brings higher visual accuracy and creativity.Midjourney continues to inspire with its artistic style and natural-language precision.Canva Magic Studio adds intuitive image and layout generation directly into classroom materials.

• Presentation Creation: Gamma and Tome are gaining popularity for generating visually engaging presentations and learning slides from short prompts.SlidesAI remains a reliable option for quick classroom decks and summaries.

• Quiz and Curriculum Generation: Yippity still helps turn any text into quizzes, while MagicSchool and Teachfloor provide AI-powered lesson planning and curriculum design.These tools can automatically adapt question difficulty and suggest improvements in teaching materials.

• Text Generation and Editing: Grammarly and QuillBot enhance clarity and tone across academic writing.Smodin remains a favorite for drafting, paraphrasing, and citation management.Notion AI is also joining the list as an intelligent assistant for notes, ideas, and summaries.

• Note-Taking and Transcription: Otter AI continues to lead in real-time transcription and automatic summarization of lectures and meetings.Fireflies and Fathom expand these features with advanced tagging, speaker recognition, and integration with video platforms.

• Video Lecture Generation: Synthesia remains the go-to platform for creating virtual instructors and multilingual video lessons.Pika Labs and Runway now introduce text-to-video generation, allowing educators to visualize entire learning scenarios from short descriptions.

• 3D Model and Mixed Reality Creation: Sloyd is still a strong option for rapid 3D prototyping. Kaedim and Leonardo AI now let users transform simple sketches or concepts into interactive 3D models for design, engineering, or VR training.

• Intelligent Translation and Editing: DeepL maintains its leadership in translation quality, while GrammarlyGO and Microsoft Copilot bring AI-driven writing assistance directly into Word and Teams.These integrations make multilingual teaching and content creation faster and more accessible than ever before.

• Teacher Support and Classroom Automation: MagicSchool, Eduaide, and SchoolAI are designed specifically for educators — generating lesson plans, rubrics, parent emails, and even differentiating instruction for diverse student needs.

Can Those Eyes Lie?

Let’s take off our rose-tinted glasses for a moment. ChatGPT has already passed professional exams in law, management, and medicine — and even succeeded in a Google job interview. Cheating has never been easier.

Modern chatbots process text at lightning speed, answering questions in under two seconds. They can write essays, articles, outlines, or code copying the work of others without leaving traces. Large language models, based on vast data sets, also have a tendency to hallucinate confidently producing false information, fabricated citations, or non-existent facts.

It’s easy to make an AI-generated answer sound “smarter” or “dumber,” which makes plagiarism harder to detect than ever before.

Today, it is almost impossible to distinguish between content written by humans and that produced by AI and perhaps the saddest truth is that those who rely too heavily on borrowed intelligence deprive themselves of the joy of learning and discovery. Life becomes easier, yes but wisdom quietly slips away.

For those still anxious about AI’s growing influence, let us recall the words of journalist Jack Metha:

“ChatGPT is really good at writing things that are good. It’s really bad at writing things that are great.”

And we — the Gdańsk University of Technology community of discoverers, inventors, and creators of remarkable things — can sleep soundly.

(A nervous cough.)

For now…

Authors: Alina Guzik, M.A. and Dr. Eng. Karol Flisikowski, Associate Professor

“Edu Inspirations” is a series of articles exploring modern educational solutions, good practices, effective teaching methodologies, and innovative didactic tools.

(Originally published in PISMO PG No. 2 (263),