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In China, Some Teachers Are Using AI To Grade Homework (scmp.com)
A Beijing-based online education start-up has developed an artificial intelligence-powered maths app that can check children's arithmetic problems through the simple snap of a photo. Based on the image and its internal database, the app automatically checks whether the answers are right or wrong. From a report: Known as Xiaoyuan Kousuan, the free app launched by the Tencent Holdings-backed online education firm Yuanfudao, has gained increasing popularity in China since its launch a year ago and claims to have checked an average of 70 million arithmetic problems per day, saving users around 40,000 hours of time in total. Yuanfudao is also trying to build the country's biggest education-related database generated from the everyday experiences of real students. Using this, the six-year-old company -- which has a long line of big-name investors including Warburg Pincus, IDG Capital and Matrix Partners China -- aims to reinvent how children are taught in China. "By checking nearly 100 million problems every day, we have developed a deep understanding of the kind of mistakes students make when facing certain problems," said Li Xin, co-founder of Yuanfudao -- which means "ape tutor" in Chinese -- in a recent interview. "The data gathered through the app can serve as a pillar for us to provide better online education courses."
We already use AI to grade essays in America. Ever heard of the "ASVAB" standardized test? Some schools use it as the graduation requirement exam, and it includes an essay portion that is graded by an algorithm. It's actually pretty decent. Never saw a kid fail you didn't deserve it. Plus, it gives the grade almost instantly, so students don't have to spend a week being nervous about finally graduating high school while some union slug slowly works through a stack of 50 essays.
... but not too far in the future, AI in some hospital will decide which children will live or die, and people will shrug and consider this perfectly normal.
Grading homework is boring repetitive work.
The teacher throws all the class's mathematics homework down a staircase. Papers at the top of the staircase get the highest grades; papers at the bottom of the staircase get the lowest grades.
Repeat with English, History, etc. homework.
Yes, very repetitive.
An AI robot arm can toss the papers down the stairs. An AI camera can record which ones are at the top or bottom. An AI iRobot Roomba can collect the papers.
Yes, a great use of AI automation.
The latest Roombas can climb stairs, right . . . ?
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