Digital teacher and live teachers: how AI is changing education in Kazakhstan

Education in the modern world is faced with a serious challenge: technology today is developing faster than schools and universities can change. There are debates and fears being discussed in society about whether teachers will be replaced by artificial intelligence, but at the same time technologies are already being introduced. Tengrinews.kz spoke with the authors of real, already implemented Kazakhstani AI projects for students and teachers to find out why they are doing this, how artificial intelligence is being built into our education system, and how it works in practice, and not in our imaginations. At the end of 2024, the government adopted the Concept for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for 2024–2029, and also established a special committee on artificial intelligence and innovation development under the Ministry of Digital Development. It has been announced that by 2029 the number of products using artificial intelligence should increase fivefold. Like everything truly new, the development of artificial intelligence arouses not only interest in society, but also fears. Many saw this as a threat to traditional professions and human communication. We have already discussed these issues together with the readers of Tengrinews.kz. So, in one of

materials about professions that could potentially be replaced by artificial intelligence, an alarming question was raised: will the profession of a teacher be under threat? A new wave of discussions arose quite recently - in May, after the news that the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree “On measures to introduce artificial intelligence into the secondary education system.” There were positive reviews - this is what Kazakhstanis wrote on social networks: “The idea of ​​​​introducing AI into schools looks logical, children already live in a digital environment anyway.” “If done well, it can improve the quality of learning.” But again there were many comments with concerns: will algorithms replace teachers, will teaching become “faceless”, will children lose live communication with the teacher? Users of social networks spoke out: “The main thing is not to make children simply replace their thinking with answers from the Internet.” “Children need to first learn to reason, think and make inferences for themselves before they start using artificial intelligence crutches before they even learn to walk.” “At all stages of learning, the teacher and communication with the teacher, classmates, fellow students,

communication skills develop, the manner of communicating with people in society, and a person’s personality develops. AI cannot assist in all these processes in any way.” “Children will stop thinking, deciding, and writing altogether.” If we put aside emotions, then in essence the questions of Kazakhstanis boiled down to the following: “It is not entirely clear what exactly will be solved with the help of AI in secondary education? What are the specific tasks? This is very important for those who are going to enroll in pedagogical specialties at universities. Will AI replace real teachers? For example, my daughter wants to become an English teacher and is preparing for the UNT. Will it happen that tomorrow teachers will become unnecessary? We need a clear picture on this matter." Therefore, we decided to figure out how the existing EdTech startups introduced into the Kazakh education system actually work - what problems do they solve? The editorial correspondent focused on four similar projects. The first project we are considering is an application for learning languages. Previously, it was called Aleem. After rebranding, it was renamed Oki. This is the most downloaded application for learning languages from Central Asia. After its launch, it managed to overtake I know

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