Artificial intelligence is generating laughs -- but not much respect -- due to the implosion of Google's Gemini tool. (It's not just the images of black Nazis or female popes: Gemini can be an "AI-powered libel machine," writes Matt Taibbi.)
Nonetheless, properly trained AI can be safe, accurate and useful, writes Josh Tyrangiel in a Washington Post commentary. Khan Academy infused Chat GPT with its "database of lesson plans, essays and sample problem" in math, science, coding, history, and humanities to create Khanmigo, which serves as a tutor and teaching assistant.
Sal Khan and colleagues spent hours retraining GPT "to be less of a know-it-all that spits out answers, and more of a patient and knowledgeable companion," writes Tyrangiel.
I told the Khanmigo bot I was rusty at algebra (true!), and it presented me with sample problems that escalated in complexity. The focus was entirely on getting the steps in the process right. When I took a poor guess, it said, “Hmm, not quite. Remember, we want to isolate Z on one side of the equation. To do this, we should first try to get rid of the ‘+8’ on the left side. What operation could we use to do that?”
Tyrangiel tried Khanmigo out on geology and chemistry, before asking: “Can you tell me about racial passing in early 20th-century America?”
"The bot didn’t freak out or inject any biases that I could detect," he writes.
Khanmigo's cost to parents is $4 a month -- for up to 10 children. Khan is also trying to get it in school districts.
Hobart, Indiana schools beta-tested Khanmigo, he writes. Superintendent Peggy Buffington
says it's popular with students, who like the patient, judgment-free help, and teachers, who are saving time planning lessons and creating problems for students at different levels.
Indiana is putting $2 million into AI tutoring, including five different options.