AI Trailblazer Google Doesn’t Want Schools to ‘Bypass the Human’

In 1999, the Indian computer scientist and educational theorist Sugata Mitra created a small, if audacious, learning experiment: He and colleagues at the National Institute of Information Technology cut a hole in a street-level wall of their New Delhi office building and mounted an Internet-connected personal computer, usable by anyone who passed by. No instructions, no suggestions, no lesson plans. Just access.

Within hours, Mitra would later write, children from a nearby slum appeared “and glued themselves to the computer.” They learned how to use the mouse, download games and music, play videos and surf the Web, all by teaching themselves.

The experiment in what Mitra called “minimally invasive education” was replicated worldwide. It became hugely influential in the ed tech world, evidence that children simply need access to tools to be successful.

But don’t mention Mitra too enthusiastically to Ben Gomes,…