AI has already far surpassed humans in knowledge storage, rapid retrieval, and rule-based execution, compelling education to rethink its specific goals, pathways, and ultimate purpose. Li Yongzhi, President of the China National Academy of Educational Sciences, delivered a keynote speech titled "Scientific Classroom Transformation: Multi-Agent Collaboration Based on Teaching Thinking Chains" at the parallel session on "AI Education Development and Evaluation" during the 2026 World Digital Education Conference.

What is the most important capability for students in the age of AI? The speech stressed that, first, knowledge and competence are not opposites. It is often said that we should move from transmitting knowledge to building competence, but this should not be understood as a dichotomy. In the past, students focused mainly on learning knowledge and applying it on the basis of memorisation. In the future, knowledge acquisition will still be necessary: it should rest on a foundation of certain knowledge and the ability to retrieve that knowledge, but more time, resources and effort should be devoted to cultivating capacities that go beyond knowledge learning and retrieval.

The human brain has roughly 86 billion neurons, and what it can do with its limited volume is also limited. By reducing the brain’s workload in knowledge learning and retrieval, we can devote more of it to higher-order thinking skills, reflective ability, uniquely human empathy, and ethical judgement and decision-making. Underpinning all competence building and application is intrinsic motivation. This motivation arises from interest, confidence, meaning, socio-emotional needs and other aspects of human learning, and it constitutes the fundamental driver for navigating the future and achieving thinking skills beyond AI.

As carbon-based beings, humans need to eat and survive, and these capacities emerge naturally. An intelligent machine, however, does not naturally acquire such capacities; all its drive derives from the rules and instructions pre-programmed into it. Therefore, intrinsic motivation is a foundational capacity underlying all important human qualities. It is also a key factor at the metacognitive level that research must address when tackling the lack of learning motivation and psychological issues in today’s teaching processes.