Dmitry Basalkin is the CEO and Founder of Bright AI, which facilitates the mastery of languages through generative AI breakthroughs.
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AI is transforming the world. However, not as fast as we expected when the attention on GPT and generative AI first skyrocketed. After the initial boom, in many respects, we've seen minimal changes in our daily personal and business lives.
But there is a huge market that is quickly becoming a playground for building and testing AI solutions: foreign language learning. As someone leading a company that uses AI to help empower language learning, I believe this area of education is capable of drastically changing the lives of millions of people.
Let’s see in detail examples of how those in the industry can apply recent advancements in AI technologies to foreign language learning, as well as what we can look forward to as the technology progresses.
Toward Digital Tutors
It is estimated that around two billion people are learning foreign languages. Individuals and companies spent $56 billion on language learning in 2022, which is projected to grow to $120 billion by 2030.
A growing number of AI-powered use cases in language learning mobile apps and strong interest from governments in applying AI for public education are already here.
A digital tutor for language learning cannot simply be another language learning model (LLM) like GPT4 nor a simple combination of prompts and AI assistants based on this model. To build a truly useful digital tutor, I believe we will need much more—a digital environment where each interaction feeds the learning loop for both the learner and AI agents who are working with the learner's personal history.
This includes multiple user interfaces, multiple AI models, the full story of interactions for each user, domain knowledge and skills structure, trusted sources of information for AI agents and many more facets.
Technologies necessary to develop effective digital tutors are already here. With recent advancements in speech recognition and voice generation, generative AI can now hear and speak as well as humans in many languages.
I am certain that we will see the first full implementation before 2024 ends. Of course, integration with national curriculum and pilot projects in schools will take a bit more time. I expect we will see millions of adults and children using digital tutors daily for language learning by next year.
Overcoming Hurdles
The cost of running LLMs necessary for digital tutors should decrease over time as new infrastructure and software become available. Some basic AI functions will be available to perform on mobile devices and effectively will be free. Based on my estimates, calculated from the average tutor's rate per hour, I expect to see the average cost of digital tutors to become 100 times cheaper when compared to one-to-one lessons with a human tutor in the next few years.
Digital tutors promise to offer personalized learning experiences to a vast number of students simultaneously, adapting to each learner's pace, style and needs. They can be accessible 24/7, removing the constraints of time and location. They can also process and analyze large amounts of data to provide instant feedback and tailor learning paths effectively.
Will teachers in schools be replaced with digital tutors? Not in the near future. I think the first goal should be to supplement the existing educational process and provide service in regions with a shortage of human teachers. As for tutors for adults and self-learning tools—they will need to master ways to implement digital tutors into their services or face falling behind the industry.
Wise governments as well can play a significant role in developing national programs to apply AI in public education and get advantages of these new technologies for their people. I see digital tutors as helping democratize quality education and contribute to a fair distribution of knowledge and opportunities in life.
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