Curtis J. Bonk

For a half century, educators, psychologists, and researchers have been predicting that highly intensive, innovative, and individualized learning formats powered by intelligent agents and tutors are only a few years away. However, each year would arrive with the same lovely hopes and dreams and unfortunately depart with little fanfare. Fast forward to today where the endless decades of promises seem much more relevant and realistic today with the advent of generative AI technology such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, etc.

Today, the learner, guided by generative AI, is seeking out learning experiences (e.g., engaging in different levels of simulated experiences, beginning to learn a new language, learning to write poetry or musical lyrics, etc.), instead of being forced down preset paths with predetermined outcomes. The learner is increasingly self-directed and the learning environment is learner-determined, lifelong, and individualized. What the human race needs to do is design guidelines, specific training experiences, and novel assessments for this self-directed lifelong learning world. It may be hard to believe, but AI-enhanced self-directed lifelong learning is here and with it so too are new opportunities for every learner on this planet.