Human / Artificial Intelligence Balance: the Power of the Magic “and”

Each time I hear scary talks about the degrading generation, the declining education, the threat of a total global collapse due to bugs in artificial intelligence and other no less disturbing, grim predictions, I feel like being trapped in Groundhog Day. In my lifetime, I heard these concerns several times. When calculators came into being, teachers banned us from using them in class saying that we need to do calculations in our heads to survive in case of technology failure. Then, when personal computers became available, technophobes were talking about the  harmful emissions, spoiled eyesight, and, of course, mental degradation. And the advent of the Internet was, naturally, viewed as a conspiracy against mankind.

However, half a century has passed, and calculators are in place, speeding up the processes; personal computers have shrunk to the size of a hand-held device and became indispensable; and today no one can imagine life without the Internet. People have learned how to use technology to do things that seemed to be impossible in the past. Information rich people live longer, happier and are more productive. We can observe it in everyday life, and this is confirmed by research. For instance, a recent study has established that the information rich are able to leverage online resources for health, career advancement, and legal rights. Conversely, the information poor face severe setbacks, specifically in their psychological well-being (due to social isolation) and economic mobility (Ewuoso, 2025). 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often seen as a game changer, and to a certain extent it is true.However, there is one thing that we should understand and accept: AI is a tool. Full stop. 

It is a sophisticated tool, but it is still a tool. As well as a knife can be used to cut bread or to kill, AI can be used for our benefit or it can do hard when misused or abused — it is up to people to decide how to use it. 

Some people are scared by the self-learning ability of AI, which makes it elusive: the moment we celebrate getting to grips with it is the exact moment we discover a new feature. This dramatically changes our habitual way of using tools, but it is not the first technological revolution in human history, and we should deal with it the same way as we did with the others: accept and learn how to use it for our benefit.

What are the implications for teachers and learners? How can we find a way to succeed in this new AI driven world? Here are some suggestions:1. We should keep learning: regularly attending webinars and trainings, experimenting and sharing findings, practicing and learning from each other.Just as we learn how to drive, how to use a robot vacuum cleaner, and how to live in a smart house, we should learn how to use AI, and be aware of its possibilities, limitations, and safety rules. And we should teach our students to do the same. Introducing students to AI is even more important than teaching them how to use personal computers, smartphones, or other past innovations.

2. We can delegate their routine tasks to AI and use the time for creativity and  improving the interaction with the students. Why is this important?Let us accept the postulate that people need people. Man as a species  developed and was able to survive thanks to socialising and building structured societies. Thus, the need to communicate, interact and support the members of our community is coded in our biology. Comprehensive biological and evolutionary overviews like the one by Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, W. (2008) prove that the human nervous system treats a lack of communication and connection as a physical emergency. 

In our brain are highly evolved, dedicated structures specifically designed to process language, facial expressions, and social cues. Our endocrine system relies heavily on communication to maintain biological balance. For instance, the oxytocin hormone, which actively lowers blood pressure and reduces anxiety, is often called the "bonding hormone" because it is released during positive verbal communication, eye contact, and physical touch. 

This explains the necessity to increase positive interaction in life and in school. In a world where school children are parented by Millennials and Zoomers — generations that discovered more exciting activities outside traditional family setup which used to be focused on developing their own children — teachers can step in and help their students acquire necessary communication and social skills. We should stop criticising the younger generations for being “ignorant” or “not fit to job” - we should help them develop soft skills and information literacy.

Traditionally, the overworked teachers didn’t have time for that. Now, having AI at our disposal, we can delegate the drilling practice to AI, use AI tools to create student-tailored tasks, do the marking and lesson planning, and lots of other routine tasks. Now teachers can finally get down to their main function: helping the young develop through interactive creative activities.3. With AI we have received an unprecedented opportunity for learning and continuous professional development.

Both teachers and students can benefit from these possibilities. It is no secret that some non-native speaker teachers of English often do not feel confident about their accuracy, vocabulary and cross-cultural awareness. Native-speaker teachers of English, on the other hand, do not always understand the needs of the learners.

And they are not to blame - not everyone was lucky to graduate from the top university. 

Now, with AI, every teacher can upgrade their level of English  and methods of teaching. In addition to the internet’s ability to provide information,  AI can act as a high-profile tutor, explaining, exemplifying, encouraging, offering monitored practice and testing. This can dramatically speed up the learning process through filling up the gaps in the cognitive base, keeping pace with the research and developments in the work, verifying facts and information, and adapting the input materials to the level of the learners.

4. Teachers can and should help students use AI for their benefit through learner-centered teaching.AI is often unfairly blamed for “making students lazy and stupid”. But if we remember that AI is a tool, and as such cannot be good or bad, we have to admit that the focus should be placed on teaching students how to employ AI for their benefit. 

What pushes students to abuse AI? It might be the fear of failure and/or punishment, a desire to get a better grade or to look smarter, shortage of time or inadequate difficulty. Whatever it could be, in each case we discover one underlying reason: the learner is concerned not about their own development, but about external factors. In learner-centered teaching, which the author of this article is a strong advocate of, everything starts with needs analysis and goal setting. Once a student knows what they truly want to achieve, they will go for it. None of the students have ever said that their goal was to develop cheating and lying skills. The teacher should help the student to identify, which difficulties they want to overcome and which improvement to make, and then explain how to use AI to speed up the achievement of these goals. We should encourage our students to monitor their own progress, self-reflect not only on their language learning, but also on personal development. If we succeed, the issue of cheating with the help of AI would be gone. A simple question, "How has the use of AI in this particular case  helped you achieve your learning goal?” can stop attempts to cheat.

I strongly disagree with the ban on using phones in schools. Engaging students in learning activities, developing mindfulness and responsibility is a better way of breaking the phone addiction. Raising students’ awareness of the legal issues, like plagiarism and intellectual property rights alongside ethics seems to be more effective than prohibition. Students should practise the fair use of AI and understand that there is no harm in using AI to do the task, the harm is created at the moment when we show the AI output as our own creation without caring to understand it and acquire the knowledge. 

The premise that the real problem lies not with artificial intelligence, but the lack of human intelligence appears unshakable.Together with our students we need to elaborate on the concept of fair use of AI, in order to give clear guidance, avoid waste of time on useless games of imitating teaching and learning and remove tension caused by wrong expectations.

What is the bottom line? Bearing in mind that AI is a powerful tool, both teachers and students should learn how to use it. Ignoring the opportunities offered by AI would be just as foolish as neglecting the development of conventional skills and withdrawing from the educational process in hope that AI would do everything for our students instead of us. We should remember that humans need humans and use AI to facilitate the learning process and personal development while safeguarding the human focused interaction in education, business and life. AI is not about separating humans, but about reclaiming our time and using it to create more opportunities for establishing truly rewarding human relations. So, let us use the power of the magic “AND”: Conventional methods AND AI. Teachers AND students. Learning AND creating.

Al is a tool, and let us use it wisely for the benefit of everyone. Today, we already have the guidelines elaborated on the best practices (European Commission, 2022 and (U.S. Department of Education, 2023), which could be a good starting point for further experimentation and discussion. 

Further reading:1. Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, W. (2008). Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection. WW Norton & Company.

2. Ewuoso, C. (2025). What is the harm of the digital divide that must be the object of digital inclusion work and strategies? A systematic review. Cogent Social Sciences, 11(1), Article 2527965. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2025.25279652. European Commission. (2022). Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for educators. Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d81a0d54-5348-11ed-92ed-01aa75ed71a1

3. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2023). Artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning: Insights and recommendations. https://tech.ed.gov/ai-report/

Valentina Holubeva

EdYOUFest Control Tower team