In Defence of Learning

I was listening to an interview with the founder of Duolingo, who was speaking about what AI means for education going forward. His argument stuck with me — not because it was alarming, but because it was reassuring.

AI is changing not only what people learn but how they learn. This is not the first time a technology has caused us to question whether something is still worth knowing. Think about all the math formulas you were forced to memorize as a child. At some point, most of us either forgot them or quietly decided a calculator was good enough. The question AI is now forcing us to ask, more broadly, is the same one: if a machine can do it better than you, is it still worth learning?

The Duolingo founder’s answer, at least for language learning, was yes — and I agree. Translation tools have existed for a long time, and today you can wear a pair of glasses or pop in earbuds and have a real-time conversation translated on the fly. And yet language learning is not dying. If anything, it is thriving. Learning a language exposes you to entirely different ways of thinking —  nuances that a translation cannot fully carry over. It is also genuinely good for your brain, keeping it nimble and sharp over time. And for many people, it is simply fun. Language learning groups, conversation partners, travel — none of that goes away because Google Translate exists.

Chess is another example raised. AI has been beating humans at chess for decades. We still play. We still teach it. Because the point was never just to win — it was the thinking, the challenge, the human element.

That said, some skills will inevitably go by the wayside. There will be things we collectively decide are no longer worth the effort to learn, and that is worth careful thought. Dependency has a cost, even when it is convenient.

But on balance, I see AI as a net positive for education — if it is used well. There is a meaningful difference between using AI to do everything for you and using it to actually understand something better. The “explain this to me like I’m five, now explain it again differently” approach is genuinely powerful. It tailors explanations to the individual, meets you where you are, and lets you keep pushing until something clicks. That used to require a tutor. Now it is in your pocket.

What AI is also doing is democratizing access. A student without access to extra support can now supplement their learning outside the classroom in ways that were previously not possible. The constraint is shifting — it is less about access to knowledge and more about how to navigate an abundance of it. That means the skills worth developing are changing too. Less rote memorization, more epistemic agency — the ability to evaluate what you are reading, trace where it comes from, and decide what to believe.

We are not losing the value of learning. We are being pushed to do it differently.

What is something you have kept learning, even though AI could probably do it for you?

Take care,

Emanuel