In a seminar on 27 February 2024, Professor William Cope (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) highlighted the significance of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for education. He summarised that AI applications span various areas in education, including personalized learning, content creation, intelligent tutoring systems, language learning, data analysis, and virtual reality simulations. As an example, Prof Cope discussed the CGScholar platform developed by researchers in the College of Education at the University of Illinois, which uses AI to power adaptive learning and content personalisation.

Prof Cope also presented some intrinsic limits of generative AI, such as the lack of common sense and contextual understanding, overreliance on training data, limitations in creativity and originality, and its potential for misuse or malicious intent. With these limitations in mind, Prof Cope suggested some emerging and potential applications of AI that could enhance personalized learning experiences and improve instructional effectiveness. However, he emphasised that the effective implementation of AI in education needs to address ethical considerations, ensure data privacy, and maintain a balance between AI and human involvement to create a holistic and inclusive educational environment.