At the "teaching and learning mathematics in the technology era" conference on 13/4, doctor Pham Hy Hieu, a visiting professor at Vietnam National University, TP HCM, was asked his opinion on early exposure for students and establishing specialized AI classes in high school.

Doctor Hieu observed that with rapid development, in about 5 years, AI will become a common tool and affect all aspects of life, similar to wifi or google.

"Where i used to work, if the wifi broke down, employees would get the day off. In the future, if chat gpt, grok, or gemini malfunction, companies will also give employees the day off," doctor Hieu predicted.

While supporting early exposure and guidance on AI use for high school students, possibly from junior high school level, Mr. Hieu believes that opening specialized AI classes, like those for mathematics, literature, physics, or chemistry, is unnecessary.

He recounted a story about a team member who won a gold medal at the International Artificial Intelligence Olympic (IAIO) as part of the Grok 3 development team. This individual described the IAIO as a "pointless" competition. After reviewing the exam questions, he agreed, as the content was far removed from the latest in-depth knowledge of artificial intelligence.

Mr. Hieu noted that organizing specialized classes is somewhat related to examinations. Today's AI is different from what it was just a few months ago. In the context of rapidly developing technology, we should not waste resources chasing superficial trends.

Instead, students should focus on mathematical content. Many fundamental mathematical theories from 200-300 years ago still retain their value today. Artificial intelligence also originates from mathematical theories.

Doctor Pham Hy Hieu, former xAI employee and technical member of the Grok 3 development team, shared insights on teaching AI in high school, on 13/4. Photo: Thanh Tu

Pham Hy Hieu is an alumnus of the High School for the Gifted. He earned full scholarships to five prestigious US universities in 2011. After graduating from Stanford University in 2015, he received simultaneous job offers from Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.

He later participated in developing neural network applications at Google Brain. He earned his doctoral degree in machine learning and computational linguistics in 2021, at the age of 29. During his time in the US, Mr. Hieu worked at xAI as a technical member of the Grok 3 development team – an AI described by billionaire Elon Musk as the "smartest on earth."

Vietnam National University, TP HCM, stated that Mr. Hieu is one of the first 16 visiting professors. He participates in teaching and research at the University of Natural Sciences and the University of Information Technology.

Le Nguyen