Chen Bozhi's Perspective: Economic Issues Worth Noting in AI Education

Education that takes a hundred years to cultivate a person cannot be short-sighted and rushed. AI is considered a major turning point in human history, and it will bring significant changes to industries, the economy, academic research, and even everyday life. In response to this turning point, education must also undergo many changes. Everyone knows that it is necessary to cultivate more AI talent for related industries and to equip students with sufficient AI knowledge and skills. The Ministry of Education recently launched the AI Ark Project, which aims to improve students' learning outcomes and teachers' ability to apply AI in teaching. These are all important, but in the strong wave of AI, some educational goals and directions may be overlooked due to the glamour of AI. Borrowing the word 'ark,' education should also allow these directions, which may be overlooked or washed away by the AI flood, to survive and develop reasonably. When entering elementary school, there was a slogan: 'Ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to cultivate people.' At that time, I did not know what it meant. Later, in middle school, there was a principal who probably did not understand this principle. Seeing a large lawn in a certain university campus, he cut down the trees that had been growing in the school for several decades. This article aims to point out several problems that education needs to consider more long-term from an economic perspective in the wave of AI. When cultivating the talent needed for AI-related industries, it is still necessary to be careful not to rush ahead too much. The rapid development of the AI industry has brought Taiwan an extremely high economic growth rate in recent years, which may be the highest among developed countries. However, this growth trend may also slow down or reverse. Even if we assume that AI is not a bubble and will continue to develop for a long time, the current super-large enterprises leading AI development have a clear phenomenon of vigorously expanding investment to seek to become the winner in the winner-takes-all or loser-gets-nothing scenario. One possible outcome of this intense competition is that some enterprises will be eliminated. At that time, even if the AI industry continues to grow, its growth rate, especially the growth rate of its investment, will decline. According to the very simple accelerator principle in economics, when the expected production growth rate declines, the investment growth rate often declines even more, even turning negative. In recent years, Taiwan's main role in AI-related industries has been to provide various equipment needed for AI investment. The accelerator principle makes Taiwan's growth rate of these equipment productions higher than the global AI-related industry as a whole. However, in the future, if the overall growth rate of AI-related industries declines, the growth rate of Taiwan's equipment industries will also decline even more. At that time, not only the industry and economic growth rate, but also the stock market may be subject to greater volatility. The demand for our related talent may no longer grow rapidly, and may even shrink. Therefore, when cultivating talent for the current high-growth industry, this possibility must also be considered. The accelerator principle points out that the volatility of investment goods is greater than that of final goods, and the education of talent needed for the investment goods industry is an investment in the investment goods industry, so its volatility may be even greater. Educational institutions and students should not blindly rush forward in a swarm. Attention should also be paid to the possible problem of AI crowding out other industries and talent education. The rapid growth of AI-related industries in recent years has made Taiwan's overall economic growth very fast, but many people are also concerned that other industries may be crowded out and find it difficult to develop, leading to problems such as worsening income distribution (Chen Bozhi, 2025). If educational institutions and students also rush to develop in AI-related industries, other talent education will be crowded out, and in the future, other industries will also find it more difficult to develop due to a lack of certain categories of talent. Not everyone needs to have in-depth AI knowledge. Although AI is extremely important and will be used in most production and life aspects, it is not necessary for most students to have an in-depth understanding and technical skills. Important technologies, when developed to a certain extent, will definitely develop into common technologies that even non-experts can use. This has been the case with electricity, computers, the internet, and even medicine in the past. Several decades ago, when computers were first introduced, some people thought that not knowing computer programming would have no future, but now the number of people who really need to know programming is not high. Smartphones, tablets, apps, and various platforms allow even those who do not know programming to use them. The purpose of AI is to replace people in doing many things, so its ability to become common will be even greater. Therefore, the idea of learning AI in kindergarten is more like a business mindset rather than something that is really necessary for education. Based on the experience of using computers and the internet, many college students and highly educated workers do not necessarily need to receive in-depth AI education. Within the possible range, more emphasis should be placed on AI and human labor complementarity technologies, rather than AI replacing human labor. AI replacing human labor is inevitable and is one of its major interests. However, the technology of AI replacing human labor may cause unemployment for those who are replaced. If the government and public support for AI research and development, education, and application can pay more attention to its direction of complementing human labor, it will be less likely to cause major unemployment problems. Attention should be paid to the application of AI in various industries not directly related to AI, as well as the possibility of existing industries integrating AI and transforming. The rapid growth of industries directly related to AI causes the problem of crowding out other industries. However, these other industries may also have the opportunity to continue to survive and develop by utilizing AI or integrating AI and transforming. Talent that can help this transformation should be worth training, not only reducing the possibility of unemployment caused by AI development but also possibly developing new industries and avoiding the national industrial structure being too biased towards industries directly related to AI. In the AI era, more emphasis should be placed on basic academic training and the ability to relearn new things. After the Industrial Revolution, computerization, and digitization, the speed of technological and industrial structure changes has become even faster. Some people say that the technological progress of the past few decades may be more than that of the previous few hundred years. And AI may make the speed of change even faster. The rapid replacement of new technologies and industries means that people often have to face changes in their work methods and fields. To avoid causing unemployment or talent shortages, people's ability to relearn or adapt to new things is also very important. Therefore, students should not only focus on the direct application skills of AI but also pay more attention to basic academic concepts. The maintenance and development of talent in non-AI-related industries should not be neglected. People's lives are complex, and many things and industries will not be completely dominated or replaced by AI. Many people may not be suitable for or like to develop in the field of AI. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, there will still be many people working in many industries not directly related to AI. For these industries to develop reasonably, society will be less likely to fall into an unbalanced and even unequal development of AI and non-AI. Education should also provide good training for students who plan to or have to work in these industries, so that they have high technology and productivity, as well as the ability and opportunity to further develop these industries. Education should enable people to have the ability to enjoy a high-quality life. If the development of AI significantly increases social total production and higher income, and also reduces working hours to give people more leisure time, and even provides basic income for many unemployed people, then how people enjoy these income and time becomes a worthy issue to note. Education will need to cultivate people's ability to enjoy a high-quality life more than before, otherwise society may face the danger of becoming empty and chaotic. In the future, students in the fields of culture, art, and sports, even if they are not professionals, should not only aim to pass but should strive to have practical, appreciative, and even creative abilities (Chen Bozhi, 2017). Although AI is very powerful, it cannot replace personal happiness and living. Education should enable people to have the ability to be happy and fulfilled, making them feel that life is meaningful. Brain activities should have specialized courses and industries, just like physical activities. With the advent of modern transportation tools such as cars and work tools, many people are at risk of physical inactivity and declining physical fitness. Therefore, there are now many gyms for people to exercise their bodies. After AI replaces many of people's memories and thoughts, some people's brainpower may also need to be exercised outside of work and daily life. In the future, there will not only be industries like brain gyms, but in school education, we should also strengthen courses that activate brainpower, so that brainpower does not become weak because of AI assistance. Education should also strengthen moral character and the ability to combat fraud. As human technology advances, so do the methods and abilities of fraud and various crimes. AI is a major turning point and leap in this negative direction. The concept and education of morality have been relatively neglected in the era of global competition. It will be difficult to restore them in the future, but efforts must be made. The ability to discover and combat fraud and other behaviors that destroy morality and social order, including the thinking and design of related social institutions and agencies, also needs to be strengthened. References Chen Bozhi (2017), Economic Sustainability Depends on Cultural Innovation and Inclusiveness, Soochow University 'The Power of Culture: Inheritance and Innovation International Academic Symposium' Special Lecture, June 1, 2017, included in Chen Bozhi's Post-Globalization Era New World Order, pp. 326-332, 2025, Taipei, Chinese Hope Cultural Enterprise Publishing Chen Bozhi (2025), Overall Thinking on Global Layout and Industrial Structure, Economic Daily Investment Outlook Forum Outlook Lecture