Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing) by Salman Khan - Page 3 of 3

Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing) by Salman Khan

Regardless of the country, education tends to have the same problem that stems from the fact that in any classroom there is a wide range of abilities and developmental stages. AI tools like Kahnmigo can easily overcome this problem. The remaining barrier is to get devices and Internet access into the hands of students who don’t currently have either. Data presented here show that solving these problems is affordable and practical.

Like many of us, Sal takes a dim view of our current standardized testing programs. For the most part they narrow the curriculum and are not actionable. With the right kind of AI tools, assessments can be continuous and personalized. You must have assessments so you know how well teachers and students are doing. With continuous assessments, teachers can use the results to help inform instruction for each student. The AI tools can use them as well.
It is well known that wealthy students have an unfair advantage when it comes to creating attractive college applications. In some cases parents hire expensive consultants to help with, or compose, essays, extracurriculars, and community service. If anything, AI can make this process more fair. One approach is to share a student’s tutoring scores with colleges. Kahnmigo tutors are rated by the students they tutor. The fact that they are selected as tutors shows that they know the content well and volunteering to tutor is evidence of community service. Some colleges are already using this data. It’s also possible for AI tools to write recommendations as they know the student very well.

Most jobs will change. Rather than losing jobs most people will have to learn how to use AI to do their jobs more efficiently. Many teachers are using AI and facilitating student use. This seems like a better approach than not letting students use AI and avoiding it yourself.
The key idea for teachers is to get out of the way. Having students learn specific content in lock-step fashion only to spit it back is not what they need. Communication, collaboration, and empathy skills are more important. We must promote creativity and entrepreneurship. Nonconformity should not be punished.
In a world without AI the hiring process is inefficient in many ways. It takes too long and may miss some top candidates. With AI, the employer’s bot will talk directly to the prospect’s agent/coach bot. The AI can even be involved in face-to-face interviews by offering questions. There still may be some bias, but there should be less.
Advances in AI has put us at a crossroads. It’s almost certain that the bad guys will use it to control our lives and to commit increasingly sophisticated fraud. They can make Orwell’s 1984 look like child’s play. This is a time when citizens with good intentions should jump in with both feet so that AI is used to accelerate human purpose and potential.

Sal is the founder and CEO of The Kahn Academy. His free lessons on YouTube have revolutionized learning and have gathered billions of views globally. He is also the founder of schoolhouse.world, The Kahn Lab School, and The Kahn World School. Follow him on X @salkhanacademy. Check out Kahnmigo here.