Technology leaders, non-profit and educational organizations are teaming up to form TeachAI, a Code.org-led effort to help educators both use artificial intelligence in the classroom and explain to their students how the technology works.

Hadi Partovi, co-founder and CEO of Code.org, relates the story that when ChatGPT launched last year, he showed it to his children, and his 16-year-old son asked, “Can I use this for homework?” and then immediately added, “Wait, what's the point of school if this can do it all?”

Education is perhaps the sector most challenged by the advent of generative AI and ChatGPT in particular. One response is to ban its use, but this would be as shortsighted as telling builders not to use power tools but do everything manually. The approach advocated by TeachAI - that of preparing students for an AI-driven world - is far more enlightened. 

As Partovi puts it:

Large language models like GPT-4 have brought on a new wave of technology that will have a lasting impact on society. Although we’re still in the early stages, AI will be intertwined with our everyday lives, and our education systems need to reflect that. There’s a pressing need for updated policies, standards, pedagogy, tools, and assessments to prepare students safely and equitably for an age of AI.

This is the thinking that has impelled Code.org to provide seed funding for TeachAI which has the aim of:

empowering educators to teach with AI and about AI 

Expanding on this, the newly launched website states:

TeachAI is committing to provide thought leadership to guide governments and educational leaders in aligning education with the needs of an increasingly AI-driven world and connecting the discussion of teaching with AI to teaching about AI and computer science.

TeachAI will be coordinated by a steering committee comprised of Code.org, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Educational Testing Service (ETS), Khan Academy and the World Economic Forum.  

OpenAI, where ChatGPT is being developed, is among a long list of participating organizations which include prominent tech corporations  Amazon, Microsoft AT&T, and Cisco, educational organisations such as The School Superintendents Association (AASA), the College Board, Council of Chief State School Officers, National School Boards Association. The German Informatics Society, Sociedad Científica Informática de España and Sociedade Brasileria de Computação are among the international computer science bodies already involved and so are several diversity-focused groups such as Black in AI, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, One Generation – Indigitize and the National Center for Women in IT. It is also backed by leading university researchers. 

Stating that education needs to evolve, Hartovi comments on the composition of TeachAI and the opportunities it affords with: 

"Part of what is exciting is that, until now, educators and technologists have not been engaging in real dialogue."

More Information