According to psychologist Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard University, as well as legal scholar Anthea Roberts, who is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dragonfly Thinking, an AI innovation firm, education in 2050 will look very different from what we know today.

During a recent forum at Harvard Graduate School of Education, both claimed that artificial intelligence will not only improve teaching but will also fundamentally alter the way humans gain knowledge.

Gardner predicted that by mid-century, every child will only need brief training in the fundamentals: "reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic, and a little bit of coding."

Gardner, known for his theory of multiple intelligences, described the upcoming transformation as unprecedented. "AI is as big a shift to schooling as the planet has experienced in 1,000 years," he stated, as reported by the Harvard Gazette.

He stated that many of the skills he originally thought were required could soon be automated.

He gave a talk titled "Thinking in an AI-Augmented World" that was organised by Harvard's Academic Dean, Martin West. He emphasised the importance of both educators and governments understanding the future.

"AI is already remodelling the future of education in ways that everybody working in the sector must come to grips with," he said, as reported by Harvard Gazette.

Gardner proposed a shortened educational curriculum. He stated that while children would still require early instruction in basic literacy and numeracy, as well as coding, the teacher would then transition into a more mentorship role, rather than a traditional professor.

Students would participate in a variety of activities aimed at challenging their mindsets while also assisting them in finding meaningful employment, he said.

"I don't think going to school for 10 or 15 years, as we've done, makes sense," Gardner said, as was published by the Gazette.

Roberts gave a competing but complementary vision.

Looking back, she noted that learning concentrated upon completing tasks — "the actor on the stage, the athlete on the pitch, the writer of the book."

Looking ahead to the next generation, she imagined students leading AI teams rather than playing every role themselves. “You become the director of the actor, you become the coach of the athlete, and you become the editor of the writer,” she remarked, as cited by Harvard Gazette.

They both also brought up their concerns about 'cognitive offloading,' or the inclination to have AI think instead of students. According to Roberts, the difficulty is using robots to augment, rather than replace, human abilities.

"Our responsibility as people and as educators is to try to determine how we do that expansion rather than that replacement," she said.