《Brave New Words 》1.2 如何教会每个人一切

Part I: Rise of the AI Tutor

第一部分：AI 导师的崛起

How to Teach Everything to Everyone

如何教会每个人一切

When a hot new technology like GPT-4 comes out, it is important to not use it simply because it is “cool.” We have to think about what important problems this technology might be able to help solve. Could it help close learning gaps or provide access to quality education regardless of geographic constraints, economic limitations, or social circumstances? Could it help meet the diverse needs and learning styles of each student where they are instead of the typical one-size-fits-all approach? Could it help address the limited availability of high-quality resources in education systems globally, especially in underserved or remote areas, or help with problems of student retention of learned material? Could it help save teachers time and support them better, preventing overwork and attrition in the process?

当像 GPT-4 这样的新技术出现时，重要的是不要仅仅因为它“酷”而使用它。我们必须思考这项技术可能能够帮助解决哪些重要问题。它能否帮助缩小学习差距或提供优质教育，无论地理限制、经济限制或社会环境如何？它能否帮助满足每个学生的多样化需求和学习风格，而不是采用典型的“一刀切”方法？它能否解决全球教育系统中高质量资源的有限供应，特别是在服务不足或偏远地区，或者帮助解决学生对学习材料的记忆问题吗？它能否帮助教师节省时间并更好地支持他们，防止过度工作和离职？

What might it be like if every student on the planet had access to an artificially intelligent personal tutor: an AI capable of writing alongside the student; an AI that students could debate any topic with; an AI that fine-tuned a student’s inherent strengths and augmented any gaps in learning; an AI that engaged students in new and powerful ways of understanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; an AI that gave students new ways of experiencing art and unlocking their own creativity; an AI that allowed for students to engage with history and literature like never before?

如果地球上每个学生都能拥有一个人工智能私人导师，会是什么样子：一个可以与学生一起写作的 AI；一个学生可以与之辩论任何话题的 AI；一个能够微调学生固有优势并弥补学习差距的 AI；一个以全新而强大的方式让学生理解科学、技术、工程和数学的 AI；一个为学生提供全新艺术体验和解锁自己创造力的 AI；一个让学生以前所未有的方式接触历史和文学的 AI？

The ideas that emerged from the hack-AI-thon became the starting point for an evolution in our thinking of what is possible in education. Our user research teams, product designers, and engineers set out to design a new kind of AI tutor, powered by GPT technology, that works alongside learners as they practice concepts in every subject, along with an AI assistant for teachers too.

从 hack-AI-thon 中产生的想法成为我们思考教育中可能性的起点。我们的用户研究团队、产品设计师和工程师着手设计一种新的 AI 导师，利用 GPT 技术，与学习者一起实践每个科目的概念时，同时也为教师提供 AI 助手。

In late 2022 and early 2023, Khan Academy began planning to be the first education platform to incorporate GPT-4 in advance of its launch. But more important than getting to market first, we wanted to ensure that the experience was magical, effective, and safe. To do so, we needed to get to know the technology by better understanding its capabilities and its limits. It was pretty clear that stand-alone GPT-4 was really good at answering questions, albeit with a smattering of factual and math errors (although far fewer errors than GPT-3.5, which powered the initial ChatGPT). We pushed its boundaries, tried to break it, and spent countless hours attempting to fix it through better prompts and infrastructure, including anchoring it on content from Khan Academy. For our primary student use case of becoming a tutor, answering questions wasn’t sufficient. What we needed to do was invert the interaction so that it was asking questions of us, like a good tutor. We spent hours iterating prompts, asking the AI to act as a Socratic tutor to nudge students forward with leading questions but not give away the answer. This is not an easy needle to thread, even for human tutors.

2022 年底和2023 年初，可汗学院开始计划成为第一个在 GPT-4 推出之前就将其纳入的平台。但比率先上市更重要的是，我们希望确保体验是神奇的、有效的和安全的。为此，我们需要通过更好地了解其能力和局限来了解这项技术。很明显，单独的 GPT-4 在回答问题方面非常出色，尽管有少量的事实和数学错误（尽管比支持初始 ChatGPT 的 GPT-3.5 少得多）。我们不断突破其边界，尝试打破它，并花费无数小时通过更好的提示和基础设施尝试修复它，包括将其锚定在可汗学院的内容上。对于我们成 为导师的主要学生用例，回答问题是不够的。我们需要颠倒互动，让它像一个好导师一样向我们提问。我们花了很多时间迭代提示，让 AI 扮演苏格拉底导师的角色，通过引导性问题推动学生前进，但不透露答案。即使对于人类导师来说，这也是一项不容易完成的任务。

One of the noteworthy properties of GPT-4 is its “steerability,” especially compared with GPT-3.5 and other earlier large language models. This is the ability for us to modulate the technology to do what we want it to do. For example, we tried to prompt GPT-3.5 to act like a tutor. But no matter how much we told it to not give answers, it often did, and not always correct ones. GPT-4, on the other hand, was able to take on roles or personas fairly well, even through simple prompting like “You will be a Socratic tutor. I will be your student. Don’t give me answers.”

GPT-4 的一个值得注意的特性是其“可控性”，尤其是与 GPT-3.5 和其他早期的大型语言模型相比。这是我们能够调节技术以实现我们想要它做的事情的能力。例如，我们尝试提示 GPT-3.5 扮演导师角色。但无论我们多么告诉它不要给答案，它往往还是会给答案，而且不总是正确的。另一方面，GPT 4 能够相当好地承担角色或角色扮演，即使是通过简单的提示，例如“你将成为一名苏格拉底式导师。我将是你的学生。不要给我答案。”

That gave us the initial confidence that it could have the power to emulate a tutor. Of course, there is a big difference between something that can kind of behave like a tutor after giving it three sentences’ worth of prompts and something that you could put in front of millions of learners. We diligently tweaked prompts to anticipate the edge cases that an AI tutor would likely encounter at scale, especially when dealing with mischievous middle school students. We needed to ensure that it wouldn’t engage in inappropriate conversations, and we developed a distinct tone and voice for the platform. We were on a tight deadline. OpenAI wanted to launch GPT-4 in March 2023, and Khan Academy’s goal was to launch our AI tutor and teaching assistant the same day to show the socially positive power of the technology. More important than the deadline, it was paramount that we felt we were offering something that was substantive, thoughtful, engaging, and safe.

这给了我们最初的信心，它可以有能力模拟导师。当然，能够在给出三句话的 提示后表现得像导师一样的东西，与可以放在数百万学习者面前的东西之间， 存在着巨大的差异。我们努力地调整提示，以预测 AI 导师在大规模使用中可能遇到的极端情况，尤其是面对淘气的初中生时。我们需要确保它不会进行不当对话，并为平台开发了独特的语气和声音。我们的时间很紧。OpenAI 希望在 2023 年 3 月推出 GPT-4，可汗学院的目标是同一天推出我们的 AI 导师和教学助手，以展示这项技术的社会积极力量。比截止日期更重要的是，我们觉得我们提供的东西是实质性的、深思熟虑的、引人入胜的和安全的。

On March 15, 2023, when we launched our AI assistant, by this point called Khanmigo—a play on the Spanish phrase conmigo, meaning “with me”—we introduced learners, parents, and teachers the world over to the artificial intelligence assistant now integrated into everything that Khan Academy does. The platform offers every person an opportunity to engage deeply in the education process in entirely new ways. Among other things, it provides a personalized and patient tutor that focuses on the learner’s interests or struggles and empowers educators to better understand how they can fully support their students.

2023 年 3 月 15 日，当我们推出我们的人工智能助手时，我们将其命名为 Khanmigo——模仿西班牙语短语 conmigo，意思是“与我同在”——我们向全 世界的学习者、家长和教师介绍了现在已融入可汗学院所有工作的人工智能助 手。该平台为每个人提供了以全新方式深入参与教育过程的机会。它提供个性化和耐心的导师，专注于学习者的兴趣或挣扎，并赋予教 育工作者更好地了解如何充分支持学生的能力。

As powerful as I believe the initial launch was, we were only just beginning to scratch the surface. Not only could the platform serve as a tutor, but it could also emulate literary and historical figures. It could engage students in debate. It could act as a guidance counselor and career coach. With the power of memory, it could have long-lasting connections with learners, not just supporting them academically, but also checking in with them, helping them set goals, and then gently holding them accountable to meet those goals. It could potentially facilitate interactions among multiple students as well. In the near future, we could have AI practice and assessments based on simulations driven by Khanmigo. Every hour we brainstormed, we realized the technology could enhance and enrich every learning domain—including writing, comprehension, math, science, coding, and art—in ways no other tool can or does.

尽管我认为最初的发布非常强大，但我们才刚刚开始触及皮毛。该平台不仅可以作为导师，还可以模拟文学和历史人物。它可以让学生参与辩论。它可以充当指导顾问和职业教练。凭借记忆的力量，它可以与学习者建立持久的联系，不仅在学术上支持他们，还可以与他们联系，帮助他们设定目标，然后温和地让他 们对实现这些目标负责。它还可能促进多个学生之间的互动。在不久的将来，我们可以基于由 Khanmigo 驱动的模拟进行 AI 练习和评估。我们集思广益的每一个小时，都意识到这项技术可以以前所未有的方式增强和丰富每个学习领域——包括写作、阅读理解、数学、科学、编程和艺术。

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