I just read this fascinating article in Forbes magazine that every educator and school leader needs to read

In it, Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, recently issued a stark prediction:

Within four years, AI will possess the ability to learn from itself. This recursive self-improvement—what technologists call Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—represents a fundamental transformation of human civilization.

But buried within Schmidt's warning lies an even more urgent question for educators:

What need will parents have for a school when humanoid robots—complete with an AGI brain—have the ability to play the role of a teacher?

In case you missed it, I answered this question in one of my very first newsletter articles, “In the Era of Artificial Intelligence, We Need Educators Now More Than Ever”.

For those who have been following me for a while, you know that I believe there is a wide gap between schooling and education

Schooling is what most of think education is:

However, I am convinced that is NOT what education really is at all

I believe that education is ALWAYS human formation

And that is why I still hold out hope that the invaluable work of education will be vital, even when AI and robots take over teaching

Here’s what I mean:

Let's be brutally honest about what AGI-powered humanoid robots could offer:

From a purely informational standpoint, an AGI tutor would be objectively superior to human teachers at delivering content.

If education is merely about transmitting information and assessing retention, then yes—parents won't need schools. They'll simply purchase the latest AGI tutor-bot and call it a day.

But here's the thing: That was NEVER what education was supposed to be about anyway.

We've simply forgotten.

Somewhere along the way, we allowed education to become synonymous with information delivery.

We transformed schools into content factories where teachers became information distributors and students became test-takers.

We measured success in grades, percentiles, and college acceptance rates.

We optimized for the memorization model: absorb, regurgitate, forget, repeat.

And in doing so, we walked away from the deepest, truest purpose of education.

The word "education" comes from the Latin educere—meaning "to lead forth" or "to bring out."

Education was never meant to be about cramming skulls full of facts.

It was always about poiesis—the Greek concept of human making.

Education, properly understood, is about bringing out and leading forth that which is most authentically human in each student.

And that—precisely that—is what no robot, no matter how intelligent, can ever do.

AGI will excel at informing the mind.

But it cannot form the heart.

Let me be clear about what I mean:

At the end of the day, the reason I believe educators will continue to be invaluable is because what students need most isn't another source of information—it's human connection, belonging, and formation.

They need someone who sees them, hears them, values them, and calls forth their unique humanity.

They need educators—not just teachers.

The same need humanity has always had:

Parents will need schools that cultivate ecosystems of care where children become fully human.

Not in spite of AGI, but because of it.

As artificial intelligence grows more powerful, the cultivation of authentic humanity becomes more critical.

As machines master information, humans must master meaning.

As algorithms optimize efficiency, educators must nurture wisdom.

The more advanced technology becomes, the more valuable authentic human formation becomes.

In a previous newsletter, I wrote about Dan Koe's warning: "You have about 36 months to make it."

The clock is still ticking.

But we don't have 36 months to "make it" in the old sense—where schools compete with robots to deliver information faster or more efficiently.

We have 36 months to remember who we actually are and what we're actually here to do as educators

We are not information distributors.

We are not test prep coordinators.

We are not college acceptance rate optimizers.

We are not merely teachers

We are EDUCATORS—those entrusted with the sacred work of human formation.

And if we can reclaim that identity, then AGI doesn't threaten us—it liberates us.

Let's be crystal clear: AGI is coming whether we're ready or not.

Eric Schmidt predicts four years. Others say sooner.

The question isn't whether AGI will arrive.

The question is: Will schools still be relevant when it does?

And that depends entirely on whether we have the courage to transform—now—into what schools were always meant to be:

Hubs of human formation, not information.

Communities of belonging, not performance.

Ecosystems of meaning-making, not test-taking.

This isn't about adding a few innovative electives or creating a makerspace.

This is about wholesale transformation of what schools are and how they operate.

It means:

Because the more mechanized the world becomes, the more desperately students need what only humans can provide:

These are the things that make life worth living.

These are the things that help students become fully, authentically human.

And these are the things that no AGI, no matter how advanced, will ever be able to offer.

So here's my question for you:

When AGI arrives—and it will—what will you offer students that machines cannot?

What will make you indispensable as an educator in the Innovation Era?

The answer won't be found in your content expertise.

It won't be found in your lesson plans or your grading rubrics.

It will be found in your capacity to see, to hear, to affirm, and to call forth the unique humanity in every student you serve.

The question of advanced technology, AI, AGI, and robot teachers isn't actually a threat to education.

It's an invitation to remember who we really are.

When AGI tutors arrive with perfect information delivery, parents who want their children to flourish as fully human beings will need schools more than ever.

But only if those schools have remembered their true purpose:

Not to inform the mind, but to form the heart.

Not to optimize for test scores, but to cultivate meaning.

Not to produce test-takers, but to nurture meaning-makers.

The transformation must begin now.

And it begins with you.

The Flourishing School Leaders Cohort is where school leaders gather to wrestle with exactly these questions—how to lead schools through the seismic shifts of AI, how to reclaim education's true purpose, and how to cultivate human flourishing in an age of machines.

This isn't theory—it's practical, actionable guidance for leading transformation now.

Join a community of leaders just like you asking hard questions, wrestling with deep convictions, and pursuing authentic community

The 2026 cohort is now open!