By Piers Lee, Director, BVA BDRC Asia

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the education sector. There are a wider range of applications for AI in education compared to most other sectors, for example using AI to adapt to different learning responses from children; addressing increasing diversity of student bodies (including for languages and special needs); for scoring and marking of work; BOT teachers, and resource planning, etc.

For schools, AI is a tool that can alleviate the administrative burdens of teachers and school managers, allowing them to focus on the value-adding elements of education delivery. It also makes education more accessible, e.g. in developing countries / remote areas with limited human resources, and it complements online education that is already valued at $200 billion annually.

Government and NGOs recognize the much higher impact of education on human development and are supporting AI applications more broadly in the sector.

However, there are also some concerns around AI in the education sector. Like other sectors, data privacy, e.g. information held on individual students, is an issue and the potential bias of AI from historical norms and lack of sensitivity to cultural differences.

With education being one of the specialist sectors of BDRC Asia, we set out to explore the opportunities and threats posed by AI in the education sector. Initially we researched Singapore citizens and teamed up with Bolt Insight by using their end-to-end agentic AI survey tool that generates the discussion guide, moderates, analyses, and generates a report. The ‘human researcher’ then continues to interrogate the findings according to what has implications for the product or sector.

In June 2025, a series of online in-depth interviews were conducted with parents who send children to either primary or secondary schools in Singapore.

The findings show that there is broad support for the use of AI in education, though many believe it should be implemented with certain limitations.

A strong consensus has emerged around the importance of AI literacy. Parents, in particular, advocate for schools to educate students not only on how to use AI tools responsibly but also on the theoretical foundations of AI and its broader societal implications, such as issues related to privacy, bias, and energy consumption. They also emphasize the value of teaching practical applications of AI in everyday life.

AI is widely viewed as a critical element in future-proofing education. There is an expectation that it can significantly improve learning outcomes by increasing efficiency, offering personalized support to accommodate diverse learning needs, and helping students develop the critical thinking skills required to thrive in a world adopting AI at a rapid pace.

The perceived advantages of AI in education include reducing teachers’ workloads and improving the overall operational efficiency of schools. A key hope is that AI will support educators by automating administrative and repetitive tasks such as grading and scheduling, thereby allowing teachers to devote more time to nurturing student engagement, providing mentorship, and addressing individual learning needs.

There is also interest in the use of AI-powered BOT teachers as a supplementary resource to support human educators. Specific AI functionalities are expected to enhance teaching by offering in-depth explanations to support deep learning, making lessons more engaging through interactive features, and handling routine administrative tasks.

Adaptive learning AI receives strong support from parents, who value its ability to personalize education by adjusting content and pacing according to each student’s unique needs, learning style, and prior knowledge. The provision of instant feedback, along with AI’s ability to identify both areas where students struggle and where they excel, is viewed as highly beneficial. These features not only support student learning but also enable teachers to deliver more targeted and effective instruction.

AI-driven augmented resources are also recognized as a practical solution to logistical challenges—such as limited access to physical laboratories—by offering realistic virtual alternatives that enhance learning outcomes. Additionally, parents appreciate AI’s potential to help students explore a wide range of career paths, visualize different job roles, and make more informed decisions about their future educational and professional trajectories.

While many parents appreciate the benefits of BOT teachers—particularly their 24/7 availability—some express serious reservations about the lack of human emotional connection. They emphasize a preference for real-life teacher presence, highlighting the view that robot assistants should supplement, not replace, human educators.

A major point of tension concerns the use of AI for homework. Fears around plagiarism and superficial learning have led to calls for responsible implementation, including the use of AI detection tools and the establishment of clear usage guidelines.

Some parents also express concern about an over-reliance on AI predictions, warning that such dependence could unduly influence students’ decisions or lead to disappointment if the predicted outcomes fail to materialize.

Overall, key concerns centre on the risk of students becoming too dependent on AI, which could result in diminished intellectual effort, reduced critical thinking, and increased academic dishonesty. In response, parents advocate for the creation of clear guidelines, ethical frameworks, mandatory declarations of AI use, and proactive teacher monitoring to ensure the responsible and balanced integration of AI in education.

In conclusion, AI will embed itself into the education sector, and, like most industries, will complement human inputs and not replace them altogether. While AI can increase the reach of education to more people, access to the most sophisticated forms of AI could put wealthier families at an unfair advantage, potentially increasing inequality in education and ultimately at a wider societal level.

This article was first published in the Q3 2025 edition of Asia Research Media