OpenAI’s Initial Outreach to Khan Academy
In early 2021, Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, declined OpenAI’s first invitation to explore ChatGPT for educational use. At that time, OpenAI was not widely recognized, and ChatGPT-3 was still in experimental stages. The model occasionally showed potential, but was prone to errors. Sal Khan chose not to pursue collaboration initially.
The Proliferation of Khan Academy
Khan Academy, established as a nonprofit in 2008, offers a vast collection of video lessons and interactive exercises across subjects. Its aim is to provide free world-class education universally, impacting millions globally. In the U.S., 800 school districts use its software for education-related purposes. Khan Academy’s success has reinforced the positive influence of the internet in education.
Exploring Next-Generation AI
By summer 2022, OpenAI reached out to Khan Academy again, introducing Sam Altman into the conversation. The email disclosed the existence of GPT-4, an advanced model yet to be publicly announced. Mr. Khan, along with Chief Learning Officer Kristen DiCerbo, entered a nondisclosure agreement and attended a Zoom call to explore the model’s capabilities, which included explaining answers and generating new questions dynamically.
“Now, we know later that they were not as perfect as they first appeared,” Mr. Khan acknowledged.
Realizing AI’s Educational Potential
Upon evaluating GPT-4, Mr. Khan recognized its transformative potential in education. OpenAI planned to unveil GPT-4 within six months, proposing Khan Academy introduce an AI-powered tutoring bot simultaneously. This initiative aimed to provide students with a unique learning tool at their disposal.
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