The Best Tutor Ever Built Still Needs a Human Face
Even free AI teaches most subjects well, Cowen says, but learning still needs a person in the room.
Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin · Tyler CowenWhen asked what AI is actually good for in education, Tyler Cowen, who teaches economics to 700 students a year at George Mason University, did not hesitate.
“AI is the best tutor we’ve ever devised,” Cowen said. “It can teach you close to anything. It is tireless. It is inexpensive.”
Cowen meant that literally. In his view, even the free version of the leading AI models handles most questions and topics well. If a student pays for the best versions, he said, the cost is far lower than hiring a human tutor, and the teaching is better.
Yet Cowen argues that human tutors will not disappear. He predicts demand for them will actually rise.
The reason, he said, is what AI lacks. “There’s not the emotional vividness of working with a human tutor,” Cowen said.
In Cowen’s account, the job will change. The human tutor of the near future will work alongside the AI, teaching children how to use it to learn things, and putting a human presence around the lesson.
That face matters for a simple reason: accountability. When a student walks into a session and finds a person waiting, Cowen said, the student feels that he or she ought to have done the homework.
Questions people ask
Is there evidence that AI tutors actually help students learn?
Early controlled studies suggest it can. One well-known 2024 Harvard physics study found students using an AI tutor learned more than twice as much in less time as students in active classroom discussions, and other tutoring systems have shown gains of roughly a letter grade. Results depend heavily on how the tutor is designed and whether students actually use it.
How much cheaper is AI than a human tutor?
Yes, by a large margin. Private human tutoring in the U.S. often costs $40 to $100 or more per hour, while the most capable AI models cost around $20 per month for unlimited use, and capable versions are free. That is why Cowen calls even paid AI way cheaper than a person.
What would a human tutor working with AI actually do?
It already exists in schools and colleges. Typically the student works through problems with an AI that gives hints and feedback, while the teacher or tutor reviews progress, motivates the student, and teaches study habits. Cowen’s point is that the human does less lecturing and more coaching on how to learn with the machine.