A senior official at the UAE's Ministry of Education has pushed back against the idea that artificial intelligence could take over the core work of teaching, saying the technology is not a substitute for either educators or the independent thinking of students. Speaking to CNN Business Arabic, Mohammed Al Qasim, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, put it plainly: "Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for the teacher. Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for the student's mind." He argued that as AI tools spread through UAE classrooms, schools need to be deliberate about preserving the central role of teachers and peer-to-peer interaction among students. Al Qasim described AI's proper role as a supporting tool — something that can speed up teaching tasks and raise the efficiency of the education system — rather than a replacement for the people doing the teaching. He said technology integration in schools has to be built on cooperation between the technology itself, teachers and students, not on digital tools taking over roles that belong to people. In his view, the face-to-face exchange between a teacher and a student, and the relationships students build with classmates, are an inseparable part of learning that no digital tool can fully reproduce — a point he raised as AI adoption accelerates across UAE schools and universities for tasks ranging from teaching support to assessment and personalised learning. The comments align with a broader position UAE education policymakers have taken in recent years: embracing new technology's benefits while insisting on clear limits that keep human interaction and pedagogical judgement at the centre of how children are taught.