AI and Education: Will Chatbots Soon Tutor Your Children?

Mr. Khan's vision of tutoring bots tapped into a decades-old Silicon Valley dream: automated teaching platforms that instantly customize lessons for each student. Proponents argue that developing such systems would help close achievement gaps in schools by delivering relevant, individualized instruction to children faster and more efficiently than human teachers ever could. In pursuit of such ideals, tech companies and philanthropists over the years have urged schools to purchase a laptop for each child, championed video tutorial platforms and financed learning apps that customize students' lessons. Some online math and literacy interventions have reported positive effects. But many education technology efforts have not proved to significantly close academic achievement gaps or improve student results like high school graduation rates.