Bill Gates: ‘You need to read’ this new book about AI and education

The Microsoft co-founder recently took to social media to tout “Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (And Why That’s a Good Thing),” which published last week. The book was written by Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of education nonprofit Khan Academy — which is developing an experimental AI chatbot tutor called Khanmigo.

“If you’re passionate about education, you need to read this book,” Gates wrote on social media platform X. “Sal offers a compelling vision for harnessing AI to expand opportunity for all.”

In the book, Khan writes about the potential for AI-powered systems — like ChatGPT, which powers Khanmigo — to “revolutionize the way we learn and teach” by assisting overworked teachers and tailoring lessons to individual students around the world.

AI tutoring could help “close the education gap” with direct help for low-income students even in developing countries, Gates noted last year on his “Unconfuse Me” podcast, in an episode featuring Khan.

“I do think the AI will be like a great high school teacher who really marks your essay, and you go back and think, ‘OK, I need to step up there,'” said Gates, who partially funds Khan Academy through a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2010.

Khan Academy has reportedly rolled out Khanmigo to more than 65,000 students. Still, the AI tutoring program remains in an experimental phase, and reviewers have noted that the chatbot still makes regular math errors.

Those sorts of mistakes are a reason for parents to remain cautious about embracing AI for their kids’ education, Barnard College child psychologist Tovah Klein told CNBC Make It last year. If you use AI tools alongside your children, you can teach them how to fact-check in real time, experts advise.

Looking ahead, Gates remains excited about the potential for AI to be a game-changer in global education — as the technology improves over the next decade, and beyond

“If we think about the next 10 years, [in terms of] both the absolute level of learning and the gap with lower-income, minority students … these new tools can both close the gap and raise up the overall level of achievement,” Gates said on the podcast.

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