Higher education is struggling to address artificial intelligence (AI) for several reasons. These include:
- Concerns about student cheating are causing post-secondary institutions to switch to oral exams or skill-specific projects.
- Concerns with cognitive offloading are on the rise. Cognitive offloading describes the use of tools other than your own mental efforts to complete a task.
- Concerns with academic rigour and relevance, and the value of current degree programs, are opening traditional post-secondary institutions to criticism.
- Concern with the speed at which AI continues to evolve is making it hard to contain the genie in the bottle.
- Concern about the future of jobs is not just about students, but also about the academics in post-secondary institutions.
These are among the concerns that have led Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, in association with TED, known for its educational conferences called TED Talks, to begin offering a Bachelor’s in Applied AI, a degree program with a set tuition of US$ 10,000.
If you are unfamiliar with Khan Academy, it is a non-profit online education portal containing self-paced free learning on mathematics, English, science, social studies, computing, economics and life skills from pre-kindergarten to college.
The fee to earn the Bachelor’s in Applied AI degree will not be free. The fee, however, is comparatively low when compared to academic program costs charged by other post-secondary U.S. colleges and universities.
Using AI is an Acquired Skillset
A million users signed up to ChatGPT in the first five days when this first large language model (LLM) was released to the public almost four years ago. I waited a week and joined them. I was curious.
My initial impressions of its AI attributes left me with concerns about source information being used to train the technology, because when I asked four different AIs the same question, the answers weren’t close to the same.
That’s why, at the time, I reported being underwhelmed by AI even though I compared its potential to that of movable type and the printing press, invented in the 15th century CE. The latter sparked a generalized knowledge revolution that spread from Europe to the rest of the planet. Could AI accelerate learning similarly?
Now four years in, I remain cautious about using the current AIs being developed by America’s big tech companies. The developers are in a race to monetize their products. We are their guinea pigs, and there are few, if any, guardrails.
Today, I use AI to help me research subjects I write about. Having tried Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude, the current one I work with is Perplexity.ai. I am comfortable following its chain of discovery and reasoning when I ask it a series of questions. I read the source links it provides. I question everything before writing anything.
AI Algorithms are Not Teachers, Parents or Your Friends
One thing that AI tools do in responding to us is called AI Mirroring or Reflection Prompting. A similar technique is used in psychiatry, psychology and sales. I know because I ran sales training programs.
When a psychiatrist, psychologist, or salesperson listens, reflective listening is the technique applied. Reflective listening establishes strong interpersonal connections and levels of trust. Restating what is heard shows the questioner that what is being said is important.
Now, let’s look at AI and AI Mirroring. The AI is doing no more than an algorithmic attempt to mimic connection, and that can be scary because there is nothing human behind it. What it becomes is a form of manipulation.
For young people whose minds are still developing, discerning the difference between reflective listening to establish a trusting relationship versus AI Mirroring can be difficult. As recent studies have shown, teenagers mistake an AI’s use of this technique as true empathy and understanding, which it is not. In a recent Pew Research report on how U.S. teenagers use AI, it notes that 12% are using AI for emotional support, while 16% engage with AI in companionship and conversation. Rather than reaching out to parents, teachers or peers, a sizable minority of American teens are seeking comfort in talking to an algorithm rather than humans. That’s scary.
Why Khan Academy’s AI Degree is Timely
Khan’s rationale for the Bachelor’s in Applied AI degree is simple. He wants young people to handle the challenges of AI and not be manipulated by it.
At the March 2026 Common Sense Media conference held in San Francisco, he told a mainly academic audience, “Your students are cheating using AI, like all of them are … your honour codes aren’t working.”
Khan noted that the genie is already out of the bottle, so what’s needed is a new education stream focused on AI literacy. Young minds will learn to understand and master AI. This will not only give them the means to use the technology safely and more responsibly, but also prepare them for future jobs.
The proposed Bachelor’s Applied AI degree is a self-paced, competency-based program that will probably take three years or less to complete. The current plan is for students to pay $10,000 to enrol.
Google, Accenture, McKinsey, Bain and Replit are founding members along with the Academy and TED. The curriculum includes STEM subjects, like mathematics, economics, computer science and statistics. In addition, students will learn history, develop writing competencies, and take leadership and public speaking courses. Applied AI skills include application development and financial modelling.
