Nepal, Oct. 2 -- As someone who works closely with teachers and teacher professional development, I cannot help but wonder: Could artificial intelligence (AI) help teachers find new routes for their professional learning? Could it offer direction when conventional opportunities are difficult to reach? Or might it create new risks and inequalities?

These questions took me back to my childhood. When I was in grade four, one of my teachers suddenly stopped coming to the school from home for almost 10 months. I had no clue about his whereabouts. When he finally returned, I asked him where he had been. "You come to school to learn," he said. "I also had to go to my school to learn." His answer surprised me. Until then, I had believed that tea...