---
title: "What about Human Training?"
description: "How AI is transforming human training across industries: from robotic surgery to chess mastery. Key insights on the future of professional development in the AI era."
categories: ["AI"]
keywords: ["AI training","human training","robotic surgery","DeepBlue","cognitive diversity","professional development","adaptive learning","machine learning in education","Theory Ventures","Tomasz Tunguz"]
ai_summary: "Explores how AI is reshaping human training across various fields, enhancing professional development and cognitive diversity."
date: 2024-06-17
lastmod: 2026-07-31
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/what-about-training/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---

I was chatting with a friend of mine about the advent of robotic surgery and he was lamenting  the challenges associated with training younger doctors. Before robotic surgery,  medical surgeons stood shoulder to shoulder alongside seasoned surgeons operating.  Today, the head surgeon manipulates a robot independently while  students watch through a window or video.


A lot has been written about training AI. But what about training humans?

Shouldn't the same pattern reverberate through the work that we expect the next generation  of AI to automate, including paralegal functions, accounting, computer programming, and sales development?

If other disciplines are any indication, the answer is no, at least not to the same extent.

The world of chess was transformed when DeepBlue beat Gary Kasparov in 1996. Since then,  [chess has thrived](https://en.chessbase.com/post/grandmaster-trends-1972-2020),  driven by the interactive learning between computers and humans.  AI has developed moves that humans hadn't yet conceived - [even developing a new opening.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzqTXAohcQA)

There are at [least four drivers ](https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/s9she3/has_there_been_any_professional_race_car_drivers/
)of simulation racing games who have become professional drivers in motor sports.

Within education, computer-adaptive reading programs - programs that change their instruction to match student needs - [produced  statistically significantly higher gains in students](https://www.istation.com/hubfs/Content/downloads/studies/2023/jlt_v22_2_cambell_sutter_escobedo_lambi_howard_jones-Istation-2021.pdf) than in a control group across  reading vocabulary and reading comprehension scores.

It's also true within the world of consulting where the [most sophisticated consultants](https://tomtunguz.com/bcg_ai_paper/) use AI to "to simulate a type of personality or character (e.g., a software buyer)" to help them improve in sales processes.

Scott Page, a professor from the University of Michigan, wrote a book [The Diversity Bonus](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sianbeilock/2019/04/04/how-diversity-leads-to-better-outcomes/),  championing the idea of cognitive diversity. The key idea is how small teams with differences in the way they  reason, interpret, and solve problems are the most effective construct. 

What if adding a machine  learning agent to a decision-making process improves that cognitive diversity? After all,  robots solve problems in different ways than we do.