The Minister of Science of the Government of José Antonio Kast, Ximena Lincolao, has apologized to Chilean teachers after suggesting that they could retrain as “salespeople” or work in “customer service” in the face of the advance of artificial intelligence. “I expressed myself poorly and I understand that my words could have conveyed a devaluation of the teaching profession. That does not represent what I think, and I sincerely apologize for it,” the minister wrote in a letter sent to the president of the Teachers’ Association, Mario Aguilar, after speaking with him by phone on Sunday, August 23.
The controversy erupted on Thursday, when the Secretary of State addressed in the podcast Cómo te lo explico the debate about the future of philosophy, history, and language in the face of the advance of artificial intelligence. Lincolao argued that this technology can open new opportunities for humanities professionals, and specifically suggested that “teachers also have a great opportunity to become salespeople or customer service.”
Her argument was that artificial intelligence companies need people capable of explaining the technology, training their buyers, and helping them adapt their processes. “By training those who buy artificial intelligence today, you have to help rethink,” she concluded.
The letter in which she apologizes was made public this Monday through the social networks of the Chilean Teachers’ Association. In the letter, the authority acknowledges that she was wrong in her choice of words: “I expressed myself poorly and I understand that my words could have conveyed a devaluation of the teaching profession.”
According to Lincolao, what she meant to say in the podcast was that “in the era of artificial intelligence, the skills that teachers possess are increasingly recognized and valued: critical thinking, communication, empathy, and the ability to explain complex ideas, teach, and facilitate learning and adaptation processes,” so she believed that those who wanted to explore other possibilities had “highly transferable skills to new roles within the tech industry, including Customer Success Manager and Enterprise Software Sales, specialized and highly valued professional functions.”
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The Minister of Science also tried to empathize with education professionals: “I am a teacher and come from a family of teachers. I know this profession closely and have deep respect for the work carried out daily by thousands of teachers in our country.”
A few days earlier, Lincolao had tried to clarify that she did not seek to belittle the work of teachers with her statements, but to highlight the pedagogical and communication skills they can bring to the tech industry.
The controversy arises a few days after Kast’s government had to defend itself from criticism by scientists and intellectuals for sidelining social sciences and humanities, after the Ministry of Science excluded those disciplines from the ten priority areas set for the 2027 Postdoctoral Fondecyt competition, the state fund that finances the first years of work of newly graduated PhD researchers at Chilean universities.
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