Why Technology Cannot Replace Great Teachers
Every few months, a bold prediction repeats itself: artificial intelligence (AI) will soon replace universities as we know them. Recently, technology investor Vinod Khosla suggested that AI tutors could make traditional campuses obsolete by offering personalized learning at scale, instant assessment, and dramatically lower costs. In a country like India, with over 43 million students enrolled in higher education and a chronic shortage of quality faculty, the possibility sounds seductive. But while AI may transform how knowledge is delivered, it cannot replace what education is ultimately meant to do.
Efficiency is not the final purpose of education. Formation is. Once we appreciate this fact, we open ourselves up to appreciating the real possibilities that AI and human co-operation can achieve in this most fundamental of human needs.
AI is exceptionally good at distributing information. It can explain concepts, generate examples, adapt pace and even simulate dialogue. What it cannot do is shape judgment, character, courage and conscience. Those qualities are not transmitted through content alone… they are cultivated through relationships that are uniquely human. That is why great teachers matter more than ever in an AI-driven campus and shall continue to do so regardless of how advanced AI models become in the future.
India’s higher education system is at a defining moment. We now have more than 1,100 universities and over 43,000 colleges. Access has expanded dramatically, yet employers continue to report that barely half of our graduates are readily employable. This gap is not due to a lack of information. Students today have more information than any generation before them. The gap lies in critical thinking, communication, ethical reasoning, resilience, and the confidence to navigate ambiguity. These are not algorithmic outcomes; they are human qualities developed over time. After one’s parents, teachers are the most influential actors in a student’s life who help mould and define these attributes.
AI can answer questions. Teachers teach students how to ask better questions. AI can explain logic. Teachers develop judgment. AI can optimize learning paths. Teachers inspire purpose. This distinction becomes most visible in classrooms filled with first-generation learners from tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Many arrive with raw intelligence but limited exposure, fragile confidence, and a quiet fear of not belonging. An AI platform will never notice the hesitation behind a raised hand, the anxiety behind silence, or the loss of confidence after a failed exam. A teacher does. Every day.
Mental health on campuses makes this reality even starker. Surveys consistently show that a significant proportion of Indian students experience chronic academic stress, anxiety, and self-doubt. Counselling systems remain inadequate, and formal interventions are limited. In this vacuum, it is often a teacher who becomes the first line of emotional support, someone who listens, reassures, challenges gently, and reminds a student that failure is not final. No matter how advanced AI becomes, empathy cannot be automated.
India’s own academic history reinforces this truth. Consider Prof Asima Chatterjee, whose work in anti-malarial and anti-epileptic drugs saved millions of lives. Her scientific contributions were extraordinary, but so was her commitment to mentoring young researchers with rigour, discipline, and ethical responsibility. Or think of Dr Bibha Chowdhuri ((often known as Bibha Gupta), among India’s earliest women particle physicists, whose work at TIFR contributed to the discovery of the pi-meson. Despite limited recognition in her lifetime, she remained devoted to teaching and scientific integrity, shaping generations quietly and profoundly. Their impact flowed not just from what they knew, but from how they guided others to think.
This is precisely why the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places teachers at the heart of reform. It does not imagine a future without teachers; it imagines a future where teachers are freed from mechanical tasks and empowered by technology to focus on mentorship, inquiry, creativity, and values.
We already see this playing out across campuses. Digital initiatives such as IIT Madras’s online programmes or blended learning models on platforms like SWAYAM succeed not because of technology alone, but because faculty mentorship remains central. Globally too, leading universities are using AI to handle routine instruction while professors lead debates, interdisciplinary projects, and ethical reasoning, precisely the spaces where human judgment matters most.
Universities are not factories producing degrees; they are ecosystems where ideas are tested, identities are formed, friendships are built, and social mobility is enabled. Campuses teach students how to disagree respectfully, collaborate across differences, and discover what they stand for. These outcomes emerge from human interactions, not algorithms.
AI will make learning faster. Great teachers will continue making learning meaningful. In an age increasingly defined by algorithms, education will remain, fundamentally and proudly, a uniquely human experience and enterprise.
The author is the Vice-Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University and Group CEO, Techno India Group. A visionary leader, he is shaping future-ready institutions and inspiring students to lead with purpose
