Reimagining education with AI
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in daily lives and interactions, its influence on learning and teaching is no longer a distant possibility but a present reality. Yet, the true potential of AI in education will only be realised if its adoption is inclusive, responsible, and deeply rooted in the human and contextual needs of learners, especially within India's diverse and complex education landscape.
India stands at a pivotal moment: an opportunity not just to adopt AI tools, but to build our own and shape their use, purpose, and guiding values. As we design the next generation of technology-enabled, equitable education systems, it is vital to discuss what AI can and cannot do in learning and teaching contexts.
To dispel common myths and highlight AI's real promise, we examine five misconceptions based on research and insights from India's classrooms.
This is one of the most common and limiting misconceptions. While it's true that many AI-powered tools are packaged as premium apps, the reality is that AI has already permeated daily life across income levels in India. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, 82% of children in rural India aged 14-16 know how to use smartphones, and many are already engaging with AI, knowingly or unknowingly--through voice assistants, chatbots, video recommendations, and translation tools.
What's missing is not access, but guided, meaningful, and critical engagement.
Estimations by the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI) at IIT, Madras and the Central Square Foundation show that early exposure to generative AI can be made accessible using low-cost, commercially available tools powered by non-sovereign models. Such exposure, designed for approximately 45 minutes of use per week, including 10 minutes of chatbot interaction and two image generations per day, can be delivered at a cost as low as ₹100– ₹110 per student per year, when scaled to reach 10 million students. But to make this transformation truly sustainable and avoid dependency on proprietary systems, India must invest in public digital infrastructure for AI in education.
Alternatively, a sovereign, indigenous 14-billion parameter AI-powered personalised learning model for K–8 grades can be operated and maintained at a cost of approximately ₹25– ₹30 per student per year (with upfront investments amortised over five years), assuming one hour of use per day. An investment of ₹13–14 crore could potentially scale this model to serve three million K–8 students, with further potential to expand to a larger population. This demonstrates that guided AI tools are both feasible and scalable.
These infrastructure investments lay the foundation for building safe, inclusive, and context-aware AI tools for classrooms. With the appropriate guardrails in place, AI in education holds immense promise to reshape education as we know it.
This myth overlooks the pace and potential of AI's evolving role in education. Purpose-built AI is steadily emerging as a long-term enabler of more effective, equitable, and responsive learning systems.
When thoughtfully integrated, AI can personalise learning, provide real-time feedback to students, and generate insights that help educators better understand and support each learner's progress. It enables differentiated instruction, particularly valuable in classrooms with varied learning levels, a common challenge in India's public education system. The long-term impact of AI is already visible in classrooms around the world, signalling a fundamental shift in how we learn, teach, and innovate.
Myth 3: AI might replace the role of teachers.A common concern is that AI may replace teachers. In reality, AI is a supportive tool that enhances teaching by automating routine tasks like grading and administration, optimising teachers' time to engage more meaningfully with students. AI also complements instruction through personalised tutoring and tailored support, with teachers remaining essential as guides and mentors to learners.
Rather than diminishing their role, AI empowers educators to be more effective and focused on each student's learning. The future of education will be shaped by how AI complements and supports teachers, amplifying their impact and helping every child learn more effectively.
AI literacy goes beyond technical skills to include conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and ethical awareness needed to navigate an AI-driven world. As AI integrates into education, health, and social media, understanding and questioning AI outputs becomes as fundamental as reading or arithmetic.
Therefore, AI literacy must extend beyond STEM classrooms to reach teachers, students, policymakers, and communities. It is a foundational requirement for AI adoption and future skill development. Viewed through the lens of AI competency, a three-tiered model is useful:
AI Samarth, a first-of-its-kind large-scale AI literacy initiative launched by CSF and IIT Madras, recognises the urgent need to build foundational AI awareness and promote responsible use. AI Samarth aims to cultivate a generation of informed, responsible and empowered users.
Children in rural and low-income communities are already engaging with AI via smartphones and learning platforms, often without fully understanding how these tools work or their reliability.
AI literacy is essential for these groups, as accessible AI offers scalable, personalised solutions to challenges in under-resourced settings. Yet, without adequate awareness, risks like privacy concerns, misinformation, and misuse increase.
Without critical understanding, students may accept AI outputs uncritically, potentially worsening inequities.
AI Samarth addresses this by providing contextual content for students, parents, and teachers in underserved communities in local languages, ensuring safe, informed, and purposeful AI engagement. Similarly, rural women working as data workers at Karya for AI systems--earn an hourly wage of about $5, nearly 20 times the Indian minimum--demonstrate how lower-income communities are not just passive recipients of AI but active and aware contributors to the global AI economy. Their participation underscores the importance of AI literacy, empowering individuals to engage safely and meaningfully with AI technologies while benefiting economically.
India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 calls for AI fluency, digital skills, and computational thinking across school curricula. Realising this vision requires coordinated action from policymakers, educators, technologists, and civil society.
The goal is not just adopting new tools but shaping technology to uphold fairness, inclusion, safety, and transparency. Critical questions about who designs the AI, whose data is used, and who benefits must guide this effort to ensure education becomes more equitable. As initiatives scale, focus should be on building strong public infrastructure, fostering local innovation, and delivering AI literacy so every learner can thrive in an AI-driven world.
AI is not a silver bullet, but with the right intent, investment, and safeguards, it can be a powerful force to reimagine India's education system as equitable, future-ready, and learner-centred.
This article is authored by B. Ravindran, head, Wadhwani School of Data Science & AI (WSAI), Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Gouri Gupta, project director, Central Square Foundation.
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