Major Aussie tutoring company suddenly shuts down and tells parents to turn to AI instead: ‘Overpriced’
A popular tutoring company will close its doors this week after conceding that AI has rendered its service obsolete.
Dymocks Tutoring and Talent 100, which has five centres across Sydney, will close after telling parents it would be cheaper for them to pay for an artificial intelligence tool rather than a human tutor to teach their children.
The company, which is part of the 140-year-old Dymocks institution, said students have increasingly been turning to AI bots like Claude, Gemini and OpenAI for help with exam preparation and study feedback.
In turn, Dymocks says its tutoring, which can cost parents up to $900 per subject, is no longer good value for money.
‘Most of our customers would be better off using their hard-earned cash on cheaper solutions rather than simply paying for overpriced tutoring,’ Dymocks Education chief executive Mark Buckland told the AFR.
‘Sure AI won’t perform as well as our human tutors with all the support behind them, but it’s also $30 a month.’
Mr Buckland also claimed the tutoring industry doesn’t ‘actually do anything unique’ but instead provides comfort to students – something AI can replicate.
Dymocks Tutoring and Talent 100 will close this week after conceding AI has rendered its service obsolete
Dymocks Education chief executive Mark Buckland said parents would be ‘better off’ paying for an AI tool, rather than a human tutor
While some parents said they understood why the tutoring service had chosen to shut down, others criticised its reasoning as a ‘misguided’ claim about AI.
‘That concept is tragic and scary! Nothing replaces human connections,’ one person said.
Another person added: ‘Human to human is way more motivating. My students go into a coma in front of their Chromebooks.’
Those concerns were echoed by Australian Tutoring Association chief executive Mohan Dhall, who said he was surprised by the company’s decision to close.
‘It was certainly a surprise to see that [Dymocks] had opted to leave at a time when I’d have thought if they stayed longer, there was more to realise in this industry,’ he told the AFR.
The closure comes as debate continues over the role AI and emerging technologies should play in education, with recent PISA results showing Australian teenagers have recorded their lowest literacy and maths scores in two decades.
Scores in both subjects have fallen steadily since 2009, around the same time smartphones became increasingly widespread.
NSW and Victoria have since introduced policies aimed at curbing the negative impacts of technology on students, including smartphone bans and limits on screen time in classrooms.
Victoria has also moved to ban smartwatches and headphones in schools.
Recent results show Aussie teens have the lowest literacy and maths skills in two decades, with state governments now employing a range of measures to curb screen time at school
Join the discussion
Are AI tools really a good substitute for human tutors in helping kids learn and stay motivated?
News of the tutoring company’s closure came a day before Anthony Albanese urged world leaders at the United Nations to put in place stronger international safeguards around AI.
US President Donald Trump has previously called fears around AI a ‘hoax’ and told th UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he would ‘totally reject any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence’.
– READ MORE: Rogue OpenAI agent breached Medicare, Albanese confirms, as he slams CEO Sam Altman’s attitude about the ‘unacceptable’ incident
– READ MORE: Why AI tycoons are calling for a ‘slowdown’…and could they have something to gain from it?
