AI-powered grading systems are being adopted by a growing number of schools. Currently, these tools are primarily used to analyze and score exams with objective answers, such as in science and English as a foreign language, where standardized responses allow the technology to perform most effectively.

Even partial use of AI grading can ease teacher workload. By automating repetitive scoring tasks, it frees educators to focus on more creative and interactive duties: designing lessons, planning research and providing personalized feedback on student work. This shift aims to improve overall teaching quality and allow more meaningful teacher-student engagement.

However, the rise of AI in assessment is also sparking debate. Across education and society, many are asking: As AI takes over more evaluative functions, what does this mean for the professional role and value of teachers?

Editorial (Gmw.cn): Education should embrace advanced and new technologies—whether it's slide presentations or multimedia. The classroom landscape in every era is accompanied by fresh and new tools. Today, AI is stealing the spotlight.

AI has indeed boosted grading efficiency, but for students, the hand-written red-ink marks from their teachers mean much more than simply right-or-wrong judgments—they're a sign of being "seen" and valued. As AI increasingly takes over the work of grading tests, will the heart-to-heart connection between students and teachers fade along with it? It is thus essential to maintain a critical stance toward AI-assisted graders and the ever-evolving array of intelligent agents.

Education has never been solely about imparting knowledge; its deeper mission is to nurture people. To "create" a qualified individual, teachers are required to shape pupils' values and inspire critical thinking. These facets of holistic human development, at least in the foreseeable future, remain difficult for AI to reach or replace.

Wang Bumi (Wenhui Daily): AI is increasingly getting involved in education, which has prompted worries about the risks of an overreliance on new technologies. People are concerned that future classrooms may end up in an endless loop: Students use AI to complete assignments and teachers use AI to grade them. In this cycle, the effective interaction between teachers and students could dwindle, and education might gradually lose its ability to provide individualized, targeted guidance.

At a time when even the State Council, China's highest state administrative organ, issued an official document in August to promote the use of AI in diverse fields including teaching, the increasing presence of AI technologies in classrooms is already an irresistible trend, while a wide range of AI grading systems are steadily entering the market.

However, no matter how advanced the technology becomes, the teacher's central role in education remains irreplaceable. As guides and companions for students, teachers ignite learners' intrinsic motivation and, through their own conduct and example, help uncover potential among students. AI can help reduce teacher workload and provide additional support, but it can never substitute the warmth and people-to-people connection in education.

Jiang Jingjing (Shanghai Observer): Science exams and English courses that are mostly composed of objective questions are naturally suitable for AI-powered grading machines. Current AI grading tools function on a foundational model: After loading an answer key, the system scans student work, matches responses and automatically assigns scores. This automates the mechanical act of grading but does not substitute for the teacher's analytical or pedagogical role.

AI may eventually evolve into a higher-level version in which the system truly determines answer correctness autonomously, bypassing the need to "inject answers" in advance. While AI-assisted grading is undeniably precise and efficient, the extent to which it is squeezing out human teachers throughout the teaching chain or education system warrants careful examination. BR

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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