Will there be a time in the not-so-distant future when people won't need to learn a second language — instead relying on machine translation powered by artificial intelligence to interpret real-time conversations?

This is a key question, and a fear, for many businesses in the language industry.

But panelists at a recent symposium on how the "internet of things" will affect media outlets and education, co-hosted by English language school chain Aeon Corp. and The Japan Times, agreed that AI and other technologies will never be able to completely replace humans.