Artificial intelligence is a tool, not a replacement of our brains

Klaudia Bednárová has been running The Bridge language center for more than 15 years. She does not consider education to be a service that people buy and own. It is an investment in human potential that requires not only quality education, but also a brain that is ready to learn. According to her, companies today are under the illusion that artificial intelligence will also solve employee development. However, education cannot be bought. She was invited to speak more about this topic at the Forbes Growclub Summit. In this interview, she explains why it is not enough to just “take a course” and how education can really work even in times of quick fixes.

You claim that there are no quick fixes in education. Can you explain that in more detail?

The advent of AI and various e-learning platforms has created the illusion of a quick and relatively inexpensive solution to education in many companies. Twenty years ago, e-learning was a revolutionary, cheap, and guaranteed solution that attracted investors and companies alike. After all, we would all like to learn quickly, for little money, and ideally “painlessly.” However, its effectiveness is questionable, and AI is expected to significantly increase it. No matter how good it is, a platform is still just a tool. If I buy a stationary bike, it won’t help me if I don’t exercise. And then there is another very important factor—how fit are my employees’ brains? Do they want to learn? Can they concentrate? Do they have time for it?

It is important to create a culture of learning

What can we do about it?

It is crucial to have someone in the company who really understands the topic of education, whether it is an HR or L&D manager. I can buy the best wine, but if I pour it into a closed bottle, it is useless to me. Buying education is not difficult at all, and even choosing quality education is not rocket science, but having open minds in the company is a different story. That is why education is a long-term process and requires continuous investment. It is important to create conditions and build a culture of learning, and this cannot be achieved without quality education and lecturers who know how to teach and work with learners as whole people. Respond to their changing work and private lives with the aim of “pouring wine into a bottle.” In practice, it often happens that management entrusts the selection of an education provider or platform to a person who does not even have education on their agenda in their job description. The goal is to purchase a service, obtain price quotes from suppliers, and pass the selection on to management. However, there is not enough input data about the other side, the employees. I am buying wine and I don’t know what condition my bottles are in.

What is the way out? Is there a chance for AI tools?

AI is a huge change in how things work, and we can only guess what it will bring. Various AI applications are currently available on the market, but they are not yet capable of performing miracles. Smartphones have brought enormous changes to our lives, but at the same time, they have caused problems with concentration. Social networks have the potential to connect us, but we now know that they are largely responsible for feelings of loneliness and depression. What AI will do to our brains is still unclear, but we already have enough experience and research to realize that every technology is a good servant but a bad master.

Students must be prepared to learn actively

How specifically can we already use AI in foreign language teaching?

For us, AI is a fundamental change in the quality and speed of lesson preparation, reflecting not only the needs but also the interests of students. Our teachers use various tools to prepare lessons according to the needs of specific students in much less time. They can create or adapt texts to the language level of students and insert specific vocabulary that students need to practice. They can prepare transcripts and exercises for videos. AI summarizes the lesson, summarizes students’ mistakes, and provides feedback to teachers.

However, it is still true that as a teacher, I need to know what will work for that student, and the student must be prepared to learn actively. Depending on how their week has been and whether they are in the mood to work hard or are stressed and just want to chat, I can prepare a lesson that makes the most of the situation, and I can do it quickly with the help of AI. This allows me to respond to the needs of all my students with the same level of quality.

What do you think an effective corporate training solution involving AI should look like in practice to make sense?

If you mean an asynchronous e-learning platform that uses AI, it can be a good blanket solution for all employees. Everyone gets the opportunity to learn, and it can be a great way to find motivated employees among a large number of employees. Through reports on the use of the platform, I may find that I have a young student at the reception desk with great potential and a desire to learn. Although many people sign up for language training, this solution allows me to select those who are motivated. When I compare this with the positions and potential of that particular person for the company, I can relatively quickly come up with a list of people whose training has potential for me and for the company.

Can you explain this in more detail using a specific example?

Imagine a company with 50 employees, 30 of whom have expressed interest in language training that would be financed by the company. They are at different language levels and not all of them actively need to use English at work. In other words, as a company, I don’t need everyone to have excellent English today. So I’ll choose the 10 who communicate in English on a daily basis, but with considerable reservations, and set up a plan in which they, as individuals, and we, as a company, will see results in their work performance. Because I needed improvement yesterday, and I need to feel a change in work performance. Then we have the remaining 20 employees who have different levels but do not use English yet. What can you do? If you have the opportunity, invest in employees with potential. It is not possible to bring people at the A1-A2 level up to a workable level in a short time if there is not enough budget for it. In this case, it is worth considering AI in a suitable format, where we can monitor the results/time invested by the employee, while also checking their motivation and discipline. After evaluation, we can then enroll these people in a course with a teacher.

English does not count to costs, it is an investment

So, what would you recommend to people in CEO positions?

I understand that times are tough right now, and we are all saving money wherever we can. However, investing in education is important, and interrupting continuity often means going back to square one. I work in an industry where people are my capital. For me, if I want to have good, high-quality people, investing in their growth and education is essential. However, given how quickly times are changing and how many changes companies have to make, we have virtually no access to information without English. So today, it’s no longer an expense, it’s an investment. Language is not knowledge, it is a skill that requires time and energy. It is a long-term investment not only in language skills as such, but also in cognitive fitness, team spirit, and communication within the company. It is important to realize that even if I save money, I may end up spending a lot more in the long run. When employees grow, the company grows too.

Today, it is no longer enough to invest in education just because it is the right thing to do. If companies want their people and their skills to grow, they need to think strategically. Not through spreadsheets, but through the search for meaning. Education that has an impact must be high-quality, lively, and well-designed, regardless of what you are learning. And technology? It can help significantly, but it does not work miracles. People are the deciding factor. And their willingness to learn again and again.

Thank you for the interview.

Edited by: Kamila Jančíková