How’s your relationship with AI lately?
- Non-existent? Like that basil plant you swore you’d keep alive but haven’t watered since last Tuesday?
- Maybe it’s… complicated—like your relationship with group chats or printers.
- Or maybe you’ve been avoiding AI altogether, convinced it’s either going to steal your job or your lunch (or both).
Totally fair.
But what if AI could be less evil overlord and more nerdy sidekick—the kind who brings you poetry, organizes your calendar, and never rolls their eyes at your questions?
What if you could be inspired, uplifted, and energized by AI?
Here are some thoughts to point the way.
AI in Education: From Overwhelm to Opportunity
Let’s be real.
Education today can feel like a choose-your-own-stress adventure.
🙃 We’re drowning in content but not connection.
😩 Teachers are running on caffeine and compassion, barely hanging on.
😶🌫️ Parents/employers (pick your context) trying to support it all without falling apart.
Add to that the relentless firehose of tech tools promising to “fix” things, and it’s no wonder many of us want to throw our devices (gently) out the window.
But what if—just what if—tech wasn’t the problem, but the path?
That’s the hopeful heart behind Salman Khan’s new book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education. (Yes, that Khan—founder of Khan Academy, education disrupter, and accidental global teacher.)
Here’s what stood out for me—and why I think this book is worth your time, especially if you care about learning, leading, or creating change.
🤖 AI’s Not Replacing Teachers. It’s Empowering Them.
Khan isn’t here to scare us with dystopian robot overlords. He’s all about augmenting teachers, not replacing them. Imagine this:
- Instant, personalized feedback for every learner.
- AI tutors that never lose patience and are always available (even at 11:43 p.m. the night before a test or a project deadline).
- More time for teachers to focus on creativity, relationships, and, well, actual teaching.
TL;DR: Let AI handle the grunt work so humans can shine in the real work.
🧠 Learning Becomes Personal (Finally)
Raise your hand if school ever felt like a one-size-doesn’t-fit-anyone factory. 🙋♀️
Khan envisions an AI-supported world where every student gets:
- A tailored learning path
- Just-in-time support
- Mastery-based progression (instead of “you got a 63%, good luck!”)
It’s about real understanding, not just surviving the system.
💬 More HDR, Less LSF
(A little nod to my own language here. If you know, you know.)
Khan dreams of AI fostering deeper conversations – between students, teachers, and families.
Picture meaningful feedback loops, real-time insights, and supportive nudges that help us all go heavy, deep, and real (HDR) instead of light, superficial, and fake (LSF).
💼 What about the workplace?
From AI tools that may be able to apply for a job for you to tools to help with equitable hiring, in Brave New Words, Salman Khan doesn’t just wax poetic about classrooms and chalkboards.
He’s got something to say about the workplace, too.
Spoiler: AI isn’t coming to steal your job, but it is going to shake things up.
Think of it like getting a hyper-organized intern who never sleeps—great at handling the boring, repetitive stuff so you can focus on the creative, human, big-picture things.
Khan’s take? The future of work belongs to those who can work with AI, not against it.
🌍 Equity Isn’t a Dream—It’s a Design Goal
Khan’s most radical idea? AI can reduce the equity gap in education.
By making high-quality, personalized tutoring and instruction available to everyone—regardless of postal code, language, or background—we inch closer to the dream of education as a fundamental right, not a privilege.
But—and this is a big but—only if we design and deploy AI intentionally, with ethics, inclusion, and humanity at the core.
🚀 So, What’s Next?
Let’s not panic about the future. Let’s shape it.
If you’re an educator, facilitator, parent, or life-long learner, this book offers not just hope, but a plan.
It’s not about replacing people—it’s about freeing them to do what they do best: inspire, connect, and transform.
Let’s use AI not as a crutch, but as a compass.
And maybe, just maybe, we’ll make education a little more human because of it.
Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead
Learn
- Check out Salman Khan’s book – Brave New Words – How AI Will Revolutionize Education.
Laugh
- What do you get when you put two AI chatbots together talking to each other? Arguments about religion and more apparently.
Lead
- Did you know I did a Learning and Development Roundtable on AI? If you’re a member you can access it. Not a member? Join here for free now.
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