Perfect Professors

Seeing how AI cannot replace human teachers

08/07/2024

MT 15:21-28 At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Have you heard about how AI or artificial intelligence is replacing many jobs? Recently, my brother and I have been discussing how AI might affect teachers and whether a robot teacher endowed with AI might do a better job in the classroom than a human teacher could. My brother works in IT and painted a startling picture of what an AI teacher might look like and do.

He said, “Imagine a teacher who is smarter than Einstein, more compassionate than Mother Teresa, and better looking than Taylor Swift, and can sing better too!” Can you imagine a school populated by such perfect professors? What could possibly be better, or what could you offer that they could not?

I would like to suggest to you three ways a human teachers would be better than the perfect professor, the combination of Einstein-Mother Teresa-T. Swift. First of all, a human teacher has a soul that comes from God. That means the origin of a human being is the mind of God, whereas the origin of a robot AI teach is the mind of man. Catch the difference? Furthermore, that origin creates a sort of “glass ceiling of greatness” for the two kinds of teachers. What do I mean?

I love the Matrix movies. But I remarked to a friend that the Matrix movies can only be as great as the mind of the Wachowski brothers who created them. That is, their mind imposes a limit of excellence on that movie. Consequently, A robot teacher can only reach as high as Harvard, where as a human teacher can reach as high as heaven.

In other words, no matter how smart, sophisticated, or speedy the Einstein-Mother Teresa-T. Swift perfect professor might become, it will never possess a spiritual soul that shows it originated in God and that its ultimate destiny is heavenly glory. The significance of a spiritual soul and that God-given greatness is a lesson that only you, a human teacher, can impart. Why? Because you are an example of that greatness; an AI teacher is not.

A second lesson that only human teachers are capable of communicating occurs only in Catholic (or religious) schools, namely, prayer. And the highest form of prayer is what we are engaged in right now at this Eucharist. To pray is a quintessentially human activity, where we raise our minds and hearts to God so that we can commune with him.

And that is what happens in the most profound prayer of all called the Mass. Think about it: when we receive Holy Communion we become one with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and partake in his divinity. As St. Athanasius put it audaciously in the fourth century: “The Son of God became a son of man so that sons of men could become sons of God.”

The Einstein-Mother-Teresa-T. Swift perfect professor might mimic prayer, and kneel, fold hands and close its eyes, but it is utterly incapable of true prayer. Why? Well, first of all because (as I said) it lacks a spiritual soul that connects it to God, like a tether connects an astronaut to his space shuttle, the source of his life and existence. But secondly, because Jesus did not become human to save AI robots, but human beings.

Jesus seems to suggest the same thing in the gospel today: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to dogs.” That is, the words of prayer in the mouth of an AI robot teacher would be like spiritual food being thrown to the dogs. In a moment you human teachers are welcome to come forward and receive Holy Communion, and become one with God – surely, Food in the mouth of children.

But if an AI teacher were at Mass, it would have to stay in his pew, and it would not even be allowed to come forward to get a blessing at Mass. In other words, the possibility of prayer is a second lesson that only you, a human teacher, can impart, because prayer always remains outside the reach of these so-called perfect professors; spiritual food thrown to the dogs.

The third lesson that only a human teacher can teach will really require you to put on your thinking caps and concentrate hard to catch. It’s popular in education these days to focus on STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math. And those are important subjects to be sure. But in some schools, especially Catholic schools, we insist on also including in the curriculum subjects like religion, poetry, music, and art (like painting and sculpture).

Why add these corny subjects; or at least why not relegate them to electives so students can skip them? Well, because these topics are designed to induce a shock that awakens us to what life is really all about. You see, religion, poetry, music, art help us to experience the most intense human emotions which are always associated with love and death. They shake us and wake us up to another dimension of reality.

Do you remember the movie “The Truman Show” starring Jim Carrey? It was a sort of reality TV show depicting the life of Truman Burbank whose every move was seen by millions of viewers. The creepy part was that Truman himself never knew he was on TV 24/7. Everyone around him was a paid actor, his parents, his friends, his coworkers, etc.

But do you remember what caused Truman to first start questioning and doubting his perfect life? He fell head over heels in love with Sylvia. That is, he experienced an existential shock, an emotional earthquake, cracking the foundations of his world, and awakened him to the fact that reality is more than what meets his eyes. By the way, doesn’t falling in love wake up a lot of guys to what life is really about, not just sports and stocks and sex? That emotional earthquake is what religion, poetry, music, and art try to produce in students.

And guiding students on the journey of being jolted can only be done by a human teacher. Why? Well, because only a human being can fall madly in love and be overwhelmed by the fear of death. That AI robot could never teach you about the beauty of love and the danger of death by its own example; only you can because you experience it profoundly. And as you know, example is the most effective teacher.

One last movie quote. In The Dead Poet’s Society, Professor Keating teaches his literature students: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love these are what we stay alive for.” And that life lesson only a human teacher imparts but the perfect AI professor cannot: what we stay alive for.

Praised be Jesus Christ!