UAE: Don’t let AI make students lazy, warns World Schools Summit founder

Technology and AI are reshaping classrooms worldwide, but educators must remain at the centre of innovation, according to Vikas Pota, founder of T4 Education and the World Schools Summit.
Speaking to Gulf News at the Summit in Abu Dhabi, Pota highlighted trends shaping global education and the challenges of integrating new tools.

“One of the trends that I see in education… you can’t ignore the AI wave and the whole use of technology. But a trend that we’re trying to encourage is how educators are being placed at the heart of decision-making in all of these products and tools,” Pota said.

Through initiatives like the Global EdTech Prize, Pota noted, education leaders not venture capitalists or technologists decide which tools to support.
“Companies like Google want a partnership with education because they understand that educators themselves have gone through a process of learning and being trained with children,” he said. “They are technologists, educators are educators, both have their places, and the combination of both is a very powerful trend.”

The two-day World Schools Summit, was hosted by T4 Education, Aldar Education, and the Emirates Foundation, and supported by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Google, Microsoft, and HP.

Addressing concerns over AI in classrooms, Pota warned of potential “cognitive laziness,” where students might rely on AI to do their work.
“Teachers are being trained in new ways to encourage thinking and to use these tools as part of the process, rather than the only process,” he said.
“If you believe in integrating AI into curriculum, then you have to invest in teacher training and capacity building.”

On equipping students for a future full of unknown jobs, Pota stressed efficiency and creativity.
“Teachers spend unnecessarily an hour or two on lesson planning every evening… technology exists to help them adapt,” he said, noting that the use of AI in broader industries has made work more efficient but has not replaced human potential.

Despite technological advances, Pota said authentic human interactions remain essential. “We’re seeing a premium being paid for real-life, authentic teachers doing everything, which is an interesting development,” he said, pointing out the role of parents as critical partners.

“Parents are such an important partner to the process of education that they’re often the forgotten voice. And what you see is that while schools haven’t changed as much, the wider consumer society is shifting rapidly. That creates an expectation that education must evolve too. That demand comes from students and parents, and schools are very responsive to it,” Pota added.