The purpose of the paper is to outline some of the major ways in which artificial intelligence research and techniques can affect usage of computers in an educational environment. The role of artificial intelligence is defined, and the difference between Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) and Intelligent Computer Aided Instruction (ICAI) is discussed. It is noted that the components of ICAI are similar to those of any traditional educational exchange in that they consist of a student, a teacher, and an environment. Distinctions are drawn between different existing programmed tutoring systems such as LOGO, GUIDON, Lisp, WHY, WEST, and IMPART in terms of: (1) user model, which forms a basis for assessment of the student, and constrains presentation of material, tasks, and generated examples to a form appropriate for the student; (2) domain knowledge, including domains with unconnected facts, closed domains with an underlying structure and a finite number of components, and open domains containing an infinite number of components and relationships; and (3) interaction style, which describes the relationship between the teacher and the student as well as the interaction between the environment and the student. It is concluded that further research on intelligent tutoring systems is required, but that one possible application of artificial intelligence technologies in education is the simplification of existing CAI approaches so that CAI can be used more extensively. (11 references) (DB)