As Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy, Salman Khan seeks to remove the barriers to education that leave over 600 million children lacking basic math and reading skills. His free, world-class curriculum – available to anyone, anywhere – has made a massive impact, with the academy’s videos reaching over a billion views. Now, Khan is using the power of AI to make education even more accessible to students around the world. He’s giving every student a personal tutor with the introduction of the revolutionary Khanmigo, an AI-powered teacher that The Washington Post calls “the best model we have for how to develop and implement AI for the public good.” In talks, Khan shares how we can revolutionize education with technology, open interaction, and a personalized approach to learning.
Recognized for his incredible influence in the field of education, Khan has been profiled by 60 Minutes, featured on the cover of Forbes, and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. His passion project, the Khan Academy, started humbly when he began tutoring his cousins and a few family friends in math. Soon, word spread, demand grew and the Khan Academy was born. Today, the platform has more than 62 million registered users across 190 countries, each able to access practice exercises, instructional videos and a personalized dashboard to help students learn at their own pace.
With the AI explosion, Khan saw an opportunity to use this new technology to revolutionize education. With this new technology, every student gains an edge. It “could take your average student and turn them into an exceptional student,” says Khan. “It can take your below-average student and turn them into an above-average student.” Boasting a state-of-the-art, adaptive technology, Khan Academy has partnered with world-class institutions such as NASA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and MIT. The technology has had a reported meaningful impact for students attending top schools such as Stanford, Princeton and Yale, especially those who are first-generation college students.
In his book, The One World Schoolhouse, praised by both Bill Gates and Al Gore, Khan outlines his vision for the future of education: liberating teachers from mandated curriculums and encouraging human interaction in classrooms. The ideas in One World are the basis for Khan Lab School, an independent off-shoot of the Khan Academy, that offers a collaborative, project-based learning approach to a mixed-age student group.
Khan holds three degrees from MIT in mathematics, electrical engineering and computer science, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. While at MIT, he taught MCAT prep courses and was named Teacher of the Year by a national prep test company.