Book Review: Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why It’s a Good Thing), authored by Salman Khan (Viking, 2024)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v26i4.9020Keywords:
AI in education, AIED, Khan Academy, Salman Khan, AI tutorsAbstract
Salman Khan’s Brave New Words emerges at a pivotal moment in educational history, when artificial intelligence (AI) is alternately celebrated as a transformative force and denounced as a threat to the human dimensions of teaching. Using his rich experience as the founder of Khan Academy, a globally renowned non-profit organization producing freely available educational videos and exercises, Khan weaves a conversational narrative that eschews dry technical jargon in favor of vivid case studies and practitioner anecdotes. This book targets readers who are new to AI, whether as parents, teachers, or education policy makers. Rather than serving as a step-by-step guide or an exhaustive chronicle of AI’s evolution, the book offers a practitioner’s reflection on how emerging technologies can be adapted to align with institutional goals and real-world classrooms. Khan brings readers into his conversations with education innovators. The author’s enthusiasm for AI technology in education sometimes outpaces a deeper engagement with its long-term social and pedagogical implications.
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