AI Can Write Your Essay (But It Can't Teach You Karate)

Zoe Jagger-Hinis
Jun 19
3 min read

Ah, so the time has come: AI photos are now indistinguishable from real ones. Videos can be generated from a few words and some (stolen) stock footage. Everyone and their dog can create content now, and we are living in an AI Slopocalypse. And while I appreciate that AI can be used to automate boring tasks, (and should be freeing us up to make real art), seeing everyone use AI for any task that requires even an ounce of thought and creativity is depressing to this woman with two degrees in English literature. I've already had my personal blog scraped and regurgitated into Facebook by instructors too lazy to write their own articles. (So please enjoy this one before it gets stolen too.)

a screenshot from when AI stole my karate article — I see you, Seitou Ryu.

On Youtube, I saw a BJJ creator use Chat GPT to ask a question about Judo, (could he not find an actual Judo-ka to ask?) and I thought it was much like asking a man what giving birth feels like. How can some circuits, and ones and zeros, have any real understanding of the massive complexity of martial arts? Just like reading recipes doesn't teach you how to cook, AI answers can't teach you how to kick.

Besides the challenges of learning karate, teaching karate is also a complicated undertaking, with so many moving parts and nuances that no machine, even nuclear powered, could even attempt to do what Ché and I do on a daily basis.

We are trying to teach a deeply complex, Okinawan martial art to a variety of minds, abilities and ages, across a spectrum of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. We must be able to alter our teaching plan on the fly, and negotiate everything from anxious pupils, to kids with rage issues, to students with ASD who aren't getting the social cues of the dojo. We have have parents trying to coach from the side, and then, dammit, someone gets an boo-boo, and it's now time to referee the ensuing argument, apply the relevant first aid, and then resume the class, dragging back everyone's focus after the entertaining interruption.

We are trying to juggle old school karate with modern expectations and limitations, and deal with dozens of parents. Now we also want to encourage beginners, and hold seniors to a high standard without breaking them in half, and still deal with everything from accounting, to Safeguarding requirements, to marketing, to gi stocktake. ChatGPT still can't produce a Pulitzer-worthy article or a yellow belt student.

Being a teacher means making hundreds of split second decisions; being an entertainer, a nurse, janitor, administrator, and lighthouse to those who need guidance. It is an incredibly human job that requires us to be authentic while holding clear boundaries. We have to be creative in how we teach, and how we keep students interested in karate without turning into a McDojo. We have to gauge how hard to push students, and when to ease the pressure, because this isn't the 1980s and student welfare matters now. Gone are the days when knuckle pushups on concrete was standard protocol for 8 year olds, or the occasional whack on the back of the head, or the verbal abuse worthy of a drill sergeant.

this isn't the 80s Pat from Bluey — Possibly one of the best episodes of Bluey

With all this complexity that requires vast knowledge, high emotional intelligence and the ability to juggle multiple tasks, being a Sensei is a deeply human undertaking. So yes, I think our work is safe from our AI overlords, at least for the next 20 years. All the denigrated pink collar jobs - teaching, nursing, childcare, social work - will be just fine. Because if your job can be easily explained, it can be automated.

All of this to say that the work of a sensei is complicated, but always worth doing. And as long as people want to learn karate, for whatever reason, we'll get to continue doing what we love for many, many years to come.