It is safe to say that millions of students have experimented with generative AI. Many have likely used it with help on an essay or to solve a complicated math equation.
While some educators may view this as heinous, it can also be argued that this is assistance not much different from using existing internet resources or using an advanced calculator.
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This assessment is in part agreed upon by Bala Subramanian, the general manager of education products and solutions at Salesforce. He says the attention placed worrying about generative AI contributing to increased plagiarism has been shifted more positively toward how the tech can be used to increase productivity, personalization, and engagement.
And with the world of higher education facing a challenge of trying to do more with less, as he calls it, due to decreases in student enrollment and budgets, AI just might be the saving grace.
This is echoed by Mark Lombardi, the president of Maryville University, who believes AI will usher in a “golden age” of learning—if harnessed correctly.
“I think AI has the potential to democratize education and knowledge in a way that we haven’t seen since the Renaissance—opening up access and opportunity, leveling the playing field, really achieving the kind of equity that could be available so that financially speaking, and in another ways, so many more people will have access to education because the AI will facilitate that entry,” Lombardi tells Fortune.
Several schools, such as Maryville, along with the University of Maryland have begun partnering with Salesforce and its AI-powered software: Einstein.
For example, it can cater automatic email responses to learn about a certain program or admissions—or help students with technology issues. Moving forward, Subramanian notes that Salesforce is planning to roll out additional tools that focus on three main pillars: careers, skills, and education.
“We are working on capabilities to really connect those three things together using generative AI to figure out: What are the typical skills that students are expected to gain from certain courses? What are the connections between those skills and certain careers? And then really connecting the dots for the students, for the staff, for the faculty so that the education becomes all the more holistic and outcome focused,” Subramanian says.
Working with—not against—AI
Marie Rosecrans is senior vice president, impact industries marketing at Salesforce. Rosecrans says she is bullish on generative AI—especially from a student success perspective. As a mother of two college students, she is hopeful that the predictive, data-driven tech can be used to meet students where they are struggling.
She adds coexistence with AI will be key to the future of education as long as there are restrictions on when it is most appropriate to use—similar to how calculators or the internet are restricted in certain classroom environments.
“Education is ripe for gen. AI in terms of the benefits that it can really help drive—and frankly I think it’ll lead—to higher outcomes,” Rosecrans tells Fortune. “Maybe, people will leave the higher educational system less if in fact we’re using generative AI and other technologies to really create these personalized experiences.”
Lombardi adds that he foresees everyone having their own AI assistant that can organically adapt to experiences and cater learning.
“To me, that’s the most important thing out of the gate. It’s not the only thing but it’s helping students and young people understand AI and also helping them understand how they can harness it for their own learning and their own experience,” he tells Fortune.
For faculty, it will be a game changer in curriculum writing and tracking student evolution of student learning in real time, he notes.
According to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Educator Confidence Report, 38% of educators have plans to utilize AI tools this school year.
Creating lifelong relationships with education
Moving forward, Lombardi believes through partnership with Salesforce, AI will help increase a skills-first approach to education.
By the end of the decade, he predicts universities will begin shifting to subscription models whereas instead of paying a certain amount each year on tuition, students will pay monthly to access a platform of content caters to whatever their needs are.
“It could be much more empowering in the sense that people won’t be looking at education as something you do within a three- or four- or five-year period, but rather something that you engage in for your whole life,” he says.
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