How AI Classrooms Are Reimagining Education

Imagine a classroom with students seated in rows, teachers lecturing in the front of the classroom. This format may look extremely familiar. However, this is how a typical classroom looked in the 1950s, when our grandparents went to school. Even after more than half a century later, the overall layout of our classrooms has managed to stay the same. Although many classes now offer interactive group work or arrange the room in a semicircle, we still spend most of our day sitting in a seat and listening to teachers, just like students from the 1950s.

But this is about to change. A school in Texas recently revolutionized our traditional classroom layout. Alpha School is a private Pre-K and K-8 institution started in Brownsville, Texas, and it now has three different campuses across the country, as well as a fourth proposed location in New York City. Unlike a traditional classroom with teachers and blackboards, Alpha School utilizes an artificial intelligence tutor called 2 Hour Learning (2HL) that adapts to each student’s learning style to teach core subjects in two hours a day, spending the rest of school time for skills-based learning.

Many critics argue that two hours, far less than the over six hours of classes in conventional schools, is not enough time to teach students necessary academics. However, administrators of Alpha Schools and 2HL claim that AI-powered learning enables students to learn twice as fast than in conventional classrooms. One journalist who visited Alpha School interviewed a six-year-old student and found that her level of vocabulary was far more advanced than that of his 11-year-old son. Thanks to 2HL’s accelerated learning, its AI tutor can finish an academic year’s worth of material in just the span of 80 days, allowing students to finish two grades in a year. 

Others argue that this shift from teachers to AI tutors will destroy the job market for teachers. However, Alpha schools and other AI-based institutions, such as Unbound Academy, hire guides who monitor students’ learning progress and provide emotional support to the students. These guides are not just random adults but are also certified teachers, therefore still ensuring job opportunities for educators. Guides are not only hired for emotional support, but they also ensure that students learn real-life skills through various workshops. These workshops range from public speaking and entrepreneurship to financial literacy and coding, and they utilize the time freed up in the schedule by the shorter academic sessions.

Another major benefit of AI-based learning is that it adapts to the student’s level. For example, if one student lacks skills in reading comprehension and writing but excels in mathematics, AI-based learning can teach the student an easier level of English while teaching higher levels of math. This enables the student to learn at their own pace instead of having to follow the general curriculum given to all students at traditional schools.

This learning system is not only utilized by Alpha School, but a handful of other new schools as well. Although most of the education is Pre-K to eighth grade, Alpha High School is one of the few institutions offering AI-integrated learning to teenagers. Students at Alpha High School are some of the top students in the nation. The senior class of 2025 has an average SAT score of 1530, well over the national average of 1024. In addition, Alpha High School provides a program called AlphaX. This program guides high school students on their journey to develop their passion projects during the afternoon. The AlphaX Program encourages students to dream big to achieve an “Olympic-level achievement,” with students spending more than 1000 hours on their projects. With the support from this program, many students were able to learn real-life skills and stand out in their college applications.

Despite the countless benefits that outweigh concerns regarding AI-based learning, it has another major drawback: the cost. Many new schools and institutions that utilize 2HL or AI-based learning are private schools that require annual tuition. This may be a big obstacle for many students and families who want their kids to learn through AI-based learning but do not have the resources to fund them. However, the AI-based learning system is growing, and currently, a handful of institutions are working with many departments of education to establish tuition-free charter schools based on the 2HL system. As AI-based learning expands, students will be able to receive the education they need without cost as a barrier. 

Co-founder of Alpha schools and 2HL MacKenzie Price said, “My mission is to show parents that their kids only need to spend two hours per day on academics.” She wants people to know that the education of the future generation should not be solely based on academics but rather on learning real-life skills and bringing passions to life. Just like Price’s vision, this new AI revolution demands a change for the better in the education of America’s future generations.