Speaking at a conference on teaching and learning mathematics in the technology era in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday, Dr. Pham Huy Hieu, a visiting professor at Vietnam National University HCMC (VNU-HCMC), addressed questions about early exposure to AI and the idea of creating dedicated AI tracks in secondary education.
He noted that the rapid pace of technological change makes it difficult for formal curricula to keep up.
According to Hieu, AI is likely to become a ubiquitous tool within the next five years, comparable to WiFi or Google, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life and work.
“At places where I used to work, if WiFi went down, employees were given the day off. In the future, if ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini encounter errors, companies may also let employees take the day off,” he said.
Dr. Pham Hy Hieu, former xAI engineer and member of the Grok 3 development team, speaks about teaching AI in high schools at a conference in HCMC, April 13, 2026. Photo by Thanh Tu |
Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training is currently piloting AI-related content from primary to high school.
While Hieu supports introducing students to AI concepts early, potentially from middle school, he argued that creating specialized AI classes, similar to those for mathematics, literature, physics, or chemistry, is not necessary.
He cited the example of a member of the Grok 3 development team who had won a gold medal at the International AI Olympiad (IAIO), but later described the competition as “useless.”
After reviewing the exam, Hieu said he agreed, noting that its content was far removed from cutting-edge AI knowledge.
Launched by Elon Musk’s AI company xAI in February 2025, Grok 3 has been marketed as the “smartest AI on Earth,” with Musk calling it “scary smart” at the launch event.
Hieu warned that building specialized programs takes years, risking the possibility that students will be taught outdated material in a fast-evolving field.
“AI today is already very different from what it was just a few months ago. With technology evolving so quickly, we shouldn’t chase the surface and forget the fundamentals,” he said, emphasizing that mathematics should remain the priority.
He added that many mathematical theories developed 200-300 years ago continue to underpin modern technologies, including AI itself.
At the same conference, Prof. Vu Ha Van of the University of Hong Kong and director of the Vingroup Innovation Foundation said mathematical talent will be a key pillar of Vietnam’s development in the coming years.
He noted that many students still study mathematics primarily to pass exams rather than apply it in real-world contexts, due to broad curricula, outdated textbooks, and teaching methods that emphasize theory over practice. As a result, he said, reforming math education is urgently needed.
Hieu is a former student of the VNU-HCMC High School for the Gifted.
He won full scholarships to five prestigious U.S. universities in 2011. After graduating from Stanford University in 2015, he received simultaneous job offers from Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.
He contributed to the development of neural network applications at Google Brain and earned his PhD in Machine Learning and Computational Linguistics in 2021 at the age of 29. During his time in the U.S., he also worked at xAI as a technical team member developing Grok 3.
According to the VNU-HCMC, he is among the first 16 visiting professors involved in teaching and research at the University of Science and the University of Information Technology.
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