AI: The Best Teacher Ever Created: Ability vs the Ability to Pay

This afternoon my AI subscription ran out. The assistant that had been guiding me through building a specialised AI system for classifying chromosomes abruptly degraded. That was when the penny dropped. AI is not merely a tool, it is the most powerful educator available. Whether used for cooking or for mastering convolutional neural networks.

Artificial intelligence is often described as a tool. That misses the point. In practice, it is an educator, and potentially the best teacher humanity has ever created. Tireless. Personal. Infinitely patient. Able to explain anything from basic cooking to the deepest layers of modern science, at the precise level the learner can absorb.

But here is where I have to sound the klaxon. This teacher does not belong to the public.

• AI is not governed like schools, and offered according to ability.

• AI is owned by commerce, and offered only to those with the ability to pay.

This is not merely an extension of private education. It dwarfs it.

Very few people are aware this is happening. Fewer still grasp its implications. By the time it becomes obvious, the advantage will already have hardened into structure, income, and power.