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Amid emerging conversations about the future of white collar jobs in the age of artificial intelligence, Sal Khan thinks that now is the time to create something he’s been thinking about for years — a new pathway for higher education.
Khan Academy, an online learning platform headquartered in Mountain View, TED, a nonprofit that aims to uplift ideas, and ETS, an organization that develops and administers standardized tests, have partnered to establish an online college called Khan TED Institute. Its inaugural program will allow students to earn a bachelor’s of science degree in applied AI, which Khan believes could benefit people interested in many careers.
“We hope to make it quite general,” Khan said. “Almost anyone will hopefully find value.”
The program’s curriculum is still under development, but Kahn highlighted that it will center on three main pillars: core academic knowledge in areas such mathematics, finance, history, science and writing; applied AI expertise; and communication and collaboration skills.
“Most of higher education is based on how much time you sat in a seat,” Khan said. “We think it should be based on competency. Do you know the material? Are you ready for it?”
As the institute continues to build its degree program, it is using feedback received from “top employers” in the industry, such as Google, Microsoft, Accenture and Replit, Khan said.
“Every company actually is reimagining how they hire and what kind of roles they’re hiring for,” Khan said. “They’re the ones that have already told us that they really care about some of these skills, like the ability to teach others, the ability to disagree constructively, the ability to learn independently.”
The goal of the Khan TED Institute is to prepare students for the “next generation of jobs” and equip them with the prowess needed to succeed in life, work and society while technology evolves, according to TED’s April 14 announcement of the institute.
The program will likely leverage Khan Academy’s existing platform, which currently provides free practice exercises and instructional videos on a variety of topics. Khan created the Mountain View-based nonprofit nearly two decades ago, after initially making tutoring videos for his cousins.
While the organization has grown, Khan said that its mission of expanding educational access and creating more personalized learning opportunities has remained unchanged. The institute’s goal is to be affordable and accessible by keeping total tuition for the degree program under $10,000, Khan said.
Khan TED Institute will primarily focus on online learning tools, including virtual lessons and simulations, as well as live video calls. Despite the digital foundation, Khan noted that he wants the institute to foster a sense of community. That might be accomplished through group projects and peer feedback opportunities, he said.
Institute leaders are also exploring potential ways to connect people offline, looking at avenues such as TEDx conferences, which take place at different times in different places around the world each year.
“When you go to a great university, part of the value of it is that when you go, you get to listen to great speakers, your professors, or some of the people who cured some disease or are thought leaders,” Khan said. “We’re hoping that we can give that to our students too.”
Applications for Khan TED Institute are expected to go live in 12 to 18 months. Before launching, the institute is pursuing accreditation in the United States, which Khan said is valuable because it indicates that the program has been vetted by outside regulators.
