As students return to school for Term 4, many will open their laptops and turn to AI for help with everything from algebra to essay plans. Sadly, plenty of others won’t have that option.
With national testing data pointing to a widening socio-economic divide in access to devices, digital skills and AI use, one of the nation’s leading advocates for disadvantaged students is warning that unless equity is a priority from day one, AI will simply deepen the divide.
Doug Taylor, CEO of national children’s education charity The Smith Family and an Adjunct Professor at UNSW’s Centre for Social Impact, pointed to a recent essay by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, which he believes should give every educator pause.
“‘AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice.’ As warnings go, Bill Gates’ essay on AI is right up there,” Taylor told The Educator. “They're 15 weighty words. Especially for a child born in 2026, who will never know life without artificial intelligence.”
Taylor said when that child starts school in a few short years, they’ll “likely have access to more information, more quickly, than any generation ever.”
“Knowing who and what to trust, and what to do with that information will be pivotal,” he said. “The skills developed through a good education – critical thinking, judgement, creativity and curiosity – will be more valuable than ever.”
Taylor said the idea that knowing how to learn matters more than what you know is hardly a new one.
“When Gates was a teenager, futurist Alvin Toffler predicted in his bestselling book, Future Shock: ‘The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn,’” he said. “Ironically, AI used well could help more young people develop those essential skills.”
‘AI could easily widen the gaps’
Taylor said AI could give a talented Year 10 student at a remote school without a specialist maths teacher one-on-one support with advanced algebra, help a senior student weigh up career options, and narrow the learning gap between disadvantaged students and their wealthier peers.
“That's one possible future. Unless we deliberately choose to make equity a priority, AI could easily widen the gaps between students,” he said.
“You don't need to read a dystopian novel to imagine a future where students from advantaged families have the best of both worlds, human teachers assisted by AI.”
In communities with fewer resources, Taylor warned, students could end up learning from chatbots because their schools can’t attract the teachers they sorely need.
“And anyone who has experimented with paid AI knows better, more capable tools increasingly come with a premium price tag,” he said. “Consider what this means for the education of our next generation.”
The non-negotiables for schools
Taylor said the playing field was uneven long before AI entered the classroom.
“Financial disadvantage has been shaping educational opportunity in Australia – and preventing young people from fulfilling their potential – long before the merits and perils of AI became a conversation at the school gate,” he said.
“Students experiencing disadvantage often start school behind their peers and by age 15 are on average four to five years behind in reading and maths. They are also less likely to complete Year 12 and pursue further study, which in turn impacts their career options.”
Taylor said that if AI has a chance of helping create a fairer education system, there are several “non-negotiables we must get right.”
“First, the basics. Every student must have access to a digital device and internet. That's certainly not the case now,” he said. “The Telstra Foundation estimates almost 1.2 million young Australians lack access to a laptop or desktop computer for their education.”
The second non-negotiable, Taylor argued, is investing in AI literacy and digital skills, where the gap between students is already stark.
“Recent results from the National Assessment Program on Information and Communication Technology Literacy show a clear socio-economic divide in digital skills among students in Years 6 and 10,” he said. “The latest PISA data also found a significant gap in AI use between students from lower and higher socio-economic backgrounds, larger than the OECD average.”
Learning to think in an age of answers
A growing body of research is also pointing to the risks of students leaning too heavily on AI. Last year, a study from MIT’s Media Lab found participants who used ChatGPT to write essays showed weaker brain engagement than those who wrote unaided. This has prompted renewed calls by some experts for human-centered education to be prioritised in schools.
Professor Leslie Loble, Chair of the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education (ANQDE) and an Industry Professor at the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, says the risk is especially acute for young learners.
“Young people need strong knowledge foundations and complex reasoning skills – not just the ability to ‘Google it’ or outsource the thinking to AI,” she said.
Professor Loble is also calling for a Digital Equity Learning Guarantee which would ensure not just access to devices and internet, but inclusive design, ethical data use, and proper support for teachers and families.
“Those most in danger of this ‘cognitive offloading’ are students without strong foundational skills, often young people experiencing disadvantage,” Taylor said. “As well, we must protect the relationships built on trust and empathy that are at the core of education: between teachers, mentors, parents and young people.”
‘If we get it right, the payoff for humanity will be phenomenal’
Taylor said that, at the end of the day, AI can’t replace the adults who help young people make sense of the increasingly complex information, opportunities and choices in front of them.
“AI can show a young person the possibilities, but it can't actually believe in their potential. And it won't be sitting beside them, unprompted, with the right words when their confidence is slipping away,” he said, adding that Gates' essay on AI is “a call for urgent action.”
“It’s also hopeful. Among his final lines is the message that: ‘if we get it right, the payoff for humanity will be phenomenal and the world will be a more equitable place.’”
Taylor said equity won’t happen by accident, and the questions schools ask now will matter.
“As AI continues to advance, at every step we must ask: who does it help, who might it harm, what are we not seeing? And crucially, will more young people have the chance to thrive and fulfil their potential because of it?” he said. “Because hoping for equity is not a plan.”