India, Sept. 24 -- At a recent education conference, the organisers gifted participants a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I found the gift exceptionally fitting. In the book, a supercomputer determines that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42. The irony is revealing, because the question itself was never known. In many ways, this reflects our present moment. Today, AI can answer a remarkable range of questions, complete much of what we assign, and pass many of our exams. But do we know what questions to ask? Do our students? What does this mean for education? For learning? For universities?

When AI can answer almost any question, the value of human intelligence shifts to asking th...