GPT’s founder and chief executive officer, Sal Khan, wants to transform GPT into a tutor.
A carefully managed version of OpenAI’s GPT is being tested by Khan Academy to help students avoid cheating in their studies. The software is currently being tested in a pilot with a small number of schools and districts; Khan plans to launch a larger beta this summer.
AI-Powered Tutor for students
“I aim to be on the front lines of how AI, especially large models of language, can be incorporated to actually solve actual issues in education,” Khan says.
Numerous understudies are now utilizing ChatGPT and other generative simulated intelligence devices to help with their schoolwork in some cases against their educators’ desires. The approach taken by Khan Academy stands out for its ability to integrate with the organization’s existing videos and exercises and provide answers to students’ questions without disclosing the answers.
Khan demonstrated for Fast Company how the chatbot, which is called Khanmigo, can help students solve math problems, assist with code debugging, act as a debate partner, and even converse with the voices of famous authors like Hamlet and Jay Gatsby.
The venture started last June when Khan got an early email from Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s Chief, and president, separately. Khan was impressed by the AI software’s ability to respond intelligently to questions about various academic materials during the private demonstration that the two provided.
Soon, Khan found himself spending late nights tinkering with the software’s prompts to make it more educational. I was working long hours to get it to behave like a teacher, adopt different identities, and create lesson plans,” he claims.
The AI is prompted to guide students in the right direction rather than simply providing an answer or telling them they are right or wrong, and it is able to spot issues with students’ programming code likely faster than most human instructors would. Khan believes that this might be especially beneficial for children who do not have access to skilled coding tutors.
