Smart machines (eg, chatbots, social robots) are increasingly able to perform cognitive tasks and become more compatible with us. What are the implications of this new situation for the competency requirements in the 21st century? This paper evaluates the underlying paradigm shift with relation to smart machines in education. It discusses the potentials and current limitations of smart machines in education in order to eliminate prejudices and to contribute to a more comprehensive picture of the technological advances. In light of human augmentation, the paper further proposes a possible learning framework that includes the human-smart machine relationship as a normative orientation for new competency requirements.