During the 2026 Chongli Forum, NEW ORIENTAL-S founder Yu Minhong stated, "Both the internet and artificial intelligence have made significant contributions to human progress. However, I have always believed the internet remains within human control, although it has indeed caused some negative impacts. For instance, some individuals exploit the internet to gain political capital or social status through extreme methods. I often reflect that without the internet, I probably wouldn't have suffered such severe online bullying over the past three years. Yet, with the internet's presence, one must courageously face both positive and negative, comprehensive and one-sided evaluations exposed online."
Regarding whether artificial intelligence ultimately benefits humanity or leads to partial失控 and disaster, Yu Minhong直言, "I personally don't have extensive insights. For example, will AI cause mass unemployment? Will people lose their sense of achievement after losing jobs? Could humanity be diminished? If AI fails to align with human values, could it destroy the world under失控 conditions? These are all significant topics." He noted that we can also observe a series of benefits AI brings to humanity. "In the education sector, children now barely need teachers for learning English, as AI can almost 100% handle English communication, dialogue, and grading. This liberates teachers' productivity and eliminates children's fear of teachers, enabling them to interact more proactively with AI and enhance learning initiative. In medical and biological fields, AI applications might make any disease solvable in the future. AI can also replace humans in performing the hardest, dirtiest, and most labor-intensive work."
However, Yu Minhong believes that "under the premise of substitution, how can humanity control AI to continuously benefit people, creating a轻松幸福 society where humans dominate and AI serves, with vastly increased wealth and no worries about poverty and survival? Alternatively, could AI polarize humanity, concentrating wealth and resources in the hands of a few, leaving others to survive passively like animals on Earth? Actually, no one has a standard answer because the key doesn't lie with AI itself but with the humans applying it and what we hope AI will bring."
He also discussed that educational development has undergone three transformations: "one mouth and one blackboard," "internet + education," and now "AI + education," each bringing significant changes to New Oriental Education & Technology's internal structure. During the "internet + education" era, all of New Oriental's famous teachers left because the internet could amplify their teaching abilities by at least 10 to 100 times, making classroom teaching seem dull; he himself also stopped teaching in classrooms. The "AI + education" era will likely eliminate numerous teaching positions, creating different impacts.
Yu Minhong stated, "Technology hasn't颠覆 anything fundamental, including education's essence. I always believe, especially in primary and secondary education, teachers are indispensable because they are genuine companions for emotional, value, and intellectual growth, no longer merely knowledge transmitters. We used to think a teacher's core duty was knowledge transmission, and currently many teachers focus 90% of their能力 on this. However, once AI matures, knowledge transmission truly won't require human effort. Frankly, using large models to seek knowledge and information, I've acquired more knowledge, interconnections, and industrial applications in the past two years than in the previous 20 years combined. That means through deep application of AI large models, my knowledge acquisition speed and density in less than two years surpassed the total from my Peking University graduation until large models emerged."
He mentioned that future teachers' functions will transform, with their core role becoming helping students unlock potential, shape sound personalities, awaken souls, guide growth, foster internal drive, curiosity, resilience, and cooperation spirit—aspects no technology can replace. "By this standard, frankly, the majority of China's current primary and secondary school teachers are unqualified, as many are deficient even in knowledge transmission, let alone undertaking the companion role."
Yu Minhong believes that AI upgrades impose higher requirements on Chinese primary and secondary school teachers, which are actually harder to meet. He noted that many Chinese teachers blush and angrily scold students when unable to answer questions, a situation needing change. Parents are also changing; previously they would say "I don't understand, ask your teacher" or "I don't know, go take New Oriental classes"—these are wrong responses. Now, truly excellent parents say "I don't know, let's use AI to find the answer together," which is correct because almost no question exists that AI cannot answer. The more questions children ask, the higher and broader their intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge breadth become, enabling them to actively master their destinies in the future.
"This is what I constantly tell New Oriental teachers: you can no longer just impart knowledge; you must acquire knowledge together with students, and seek knowledge broader and deeper than your own scope. That's what being a teacher entails now," Yu Minhong expressed.
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