Microsoft and Khan Academy have joined forces to offer their AI tutor for free to K-12 educators. Additionally, Microsoft will be developing a Phi-3 math model as part of this collaboration

Microsoft's partnership with Khan Academy signifies a significant step towards showcasing the transformative potential of AI in education. The collaboration revolves around Khan Academy's Khanmigo AI agent, which Microsoft plans to transition to its Azure OpenAI Service. This move will empower Khan Academy to offer complimentary access to Khanmigo for all K-12 educators in the United States.

Furthermore, Microsoft intends to leverage its Phi-3 model to enhance math tutoring capabilities for Khan Academy. The collaboration will also focus on creating additional high-quality learning materials and expanding course offerings accessible through Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Teams for Education.

Khanmigo, unveiled in 2023, represents an innovative AI tutor designed to deliver tailored support to students across a spectrum of subjects, including math, science, coding, and writing. With a reported user base exceeding 65,000 students, this chatbot has gained significant traction in the educational landscape.

Moreover, Khanmigo extends its utility beyond students, catering to the needs of parents and educators alike. Parents can engage with the AI tutor to seek assistance while aiding their children with homework tasks, enhancing the learning experience at home. On the other hand, educators can leverage Khanmigo to streamline their workflows, simplify administrative tasks, and develop comprehensive educational plans to optimize teaching strategies and student outcomes. This multifaceted approach underscores the versatility and potential impact of Khanmigo in fostering collaborative and effective learning environments for all stakeholders involved in the educational journey.

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Khan Academy previously implemented a $4 monthly fee for educators utilizing Khanmigo, with the charges allocated towards development expenses, technology testing, and accessing the advanced language models fueling the bot. Transitioning to the Azure OpenAI Service not only grants Khan Academy access to a broader range of models like OpenAI's GPT-4o, GPT-4, Whisper, DALL-E 3, and others but also presents cost-saving opportunities in various operational aspects. These efficiencies are substantial enough to eliminate the necessity of charging K-12 teachers for utilizing the platform.

Furthermore, the support provided by the Azure OpenAI Service could potentially unlock new opportunities for Khan Academy, paving the way for enhanced capabilities, expanded offerings, and increased accessibility to cutting-edge AI technologies within the educational landscape.The increased availability of Khanmigo to educators enables them to leverage AI technology for more efficient lesson planning and reduces the burden of various concerns.

Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, highlights the challenges faced by teachers, emphasizing their heavy workloads and the exodus from the profession due to low pay and overwhelming responsibilities. He asserts that integrating AI into education has the dual benefit of enhancing student learning outcomes and promoting sustainability in teaching practices. By utilizing AI tools like Khanmigo, educators can streamline their lesson preparation processes, alleviate workload pressures, and create a more sustainable teaching environment that ultimately benefits both teachers and students.

In addition to the collaboration with Azure OpenAI Service, Khan Academy's partnership with Microsoft extends to leveraging Microsoft's Phi-3 lightweight AI models to enhance its math tutoring capabilities. By utilizing these readily accessible AI models, Khan Academy aims to elevate the quality and effectiveness of its math tutoring services.

As part of this partnership, Microsoft will gain access to Khan Academy's comprehensive educational content, including explanatory materials, math problems, step-by-step solutions, ongoing feedback mechanisms, and benchmarking data. This wealth of educational resources will be utilized by Phi-3 to develop a compact language model tailored specifically for educational purposes. This symbiotic relationship between Khan Academy and Microsoft underscores a shared commitment to innovation and collaboration in leveraging AI technology to enhance the learning experience for students and educators alike.

Microsoft confirms that no Khan Academy user data will be used in training Phi-3. Leveraging Phi-3 offers premium AI capabilities at a lower cost. Focusing on a small language model for math teaching prevents misinformation and enhances the learning process.

Microsoft highlights a successful use case where they fine-tuned a version of Phi-3 to call Python code for complex calculations. The AI was trained on data from Accelerate Learning and Upchieve, enabling it to generate grade-level specific math problems and offer guided tutorials and personalized summaries to assist student users in their learning process.

Deidre Quarnstrom, Microsoft's education product vice president, expresses excitement about collaborating with Khan Academy to address key challenges. She believes that leveraging this model has the potential to enhance the accessibility, reliability, and overall experience of AI-powered math tutoring, particularly in products like Khanmigo.

Furthermore, Microsoft and Khan Academy are exploring the possibility of extending the use of this math model beyond cloud-based applications. This could involve integrating the model into AI-powered personal computers, mobile devices, and other edge computing platforms to broaden its reach and impact in the realm of education and learning.

As an additional point, Microsoft offers its own math tutoring programs, Math Coach and Math Progress, designed for students and educators. These programs are accessible through Microsoft Teams for Education in preview, providing users with additional resources and support for math learning and teaching.