Sunday Pick: Can AI really teach your kids? with Leah Belsky | from WorkLife with Molly Graham

Elise Hu (0:03)

Happy Sunday, Elise Hu here. Today, we're bringing you a Sunday Pick, where we share an episode of another podcast from TED, handpicked by us for you. Technology has been promising to revolutionize education for a long time. Online courses, smartphones, even the scramble to remote classes during COVID, each seemed for a while like it might finally transform what learning looks like. But mostly what we learned is that changing education is slower and harder than anyone wants it to be. So could AI finally be the unlock we've been looking for?

In this recent episode of WorkLife with Molly Graham, Molly sits down with Leah Belsky, who has spent nearly 20 years at the intersection of education and technology. Leah helped lead Coursera during the rise of online learning, and she's now the head of education at OpenAI. Together, they get into what AI really has to offer as a learning tool and where it falls short of the hype.

Leah also draws on her experience as a parent of AI curious kids, with advice on how to coach children to use AI as a tool that empowers them, rather than one that gets in the way of actually learning. You can find WorkLife with Molly Graham wherever you get your podcasts, and you can learn more about TED's podcasts at podcasts.ted.com. Now, on to the episode right after a break.

Leah Belsky (1:32)

What's really just struck me is, I've been on this journey since starting in OpenAI to figure out like, what do students actually do with this technology? Because the narrative out there is that they cheat. But what you actually see is that so many students when they learn how to use it, are looking at problems in the world that they want to solve and building solutions and not waiting for permission and not looking to hire engineers or VCs or networks or any of these things you and I had to do and probably still do. They're just building.

And that's what makes me so hopeful.

Molly Graham (2:06)

One of the side effects in working in tech for a long time is that you get a little cynical about revolution, or at least I do. We've been promising that technology was gonna revolutionize education for a long time. Online learning, MOOCs, smart phones, then COVID forced everything remote. I feel like the main thing we've learned is that changing education is slower and harder than anyone wants it to be. So when people talk about AI transforming learning, my honest first reaction is, sure it is. That said, there is one thing that feels different to me this time. For the first time, it feels like we might actually be getting close to what EdTech has been promising for 20 years. A genuinely patient, personalized tutor. Not an app that adapts a quiz, something that can answer your question, notice when you're confused, explain it to you three different ways and never get tired of you. If that's true, it feels like it could change something fundamental. Not just in schools, but in the way we learn. And it makes me wonder what we'll gain and what we'll lose.

My guest today is Leah Belsky. She has spent almost 20 years at the intersection of education and technology. She helped lead Coursera during the rise of online learning, and she's now the head of education at OpenAI. She's been close to every wave of this changes everything in EdTech, which means she knows exactly where the hype has fallen short.

I want to know if she thinks this time is actually different. And if it is, what does it mean for us and for our kids? I'm Molly Graham, and this is WorkLife, where we untangle the messy human side of work.

Well, first, I get to start with my favorite part, which is Leah Belsky. Welcome to WorkLife.

Leah Belsky (4:09)

Thank you, Molly. It's great to be here.

Molly Graham (4:11)

I know. I'm so happy to have you here. I've been really looking forward to this conversation because I get to learn all the things that you've been thinking about in the last year or two.

OK, so I just want to start, like kind of go back in time for you. You've been working at the intersection of education and technology for, I think, almost like 20 years. I want to know why you went into edtech in the first place, and what did you think was broken, and what were you hoping to fix? Sure.

Leah Belsky (4:43)

So I actually never intentionally went into edtech or education, though I guess you could say that's where I am now in a certain sense. But it actually started back in college. I went to Brown and I was an activist, and I remember coming to campus, it was during the corporate reform movement, and had this idea with a set of friends to build an online investment club, because it was a time where lots of people were trying to figure out, how do you get involved in companies and create change. There was this older student who was a successful entrepreneur, and he's like, why are you going to build a club? Let's actually create a company together. I remember during that time, we then went to the CS lab and we searched for an engineer, and we found some creatives, and eventually I have these vivid memories of driving down Route 95 in Boston, going to pitch some of the largest VCs, and it just made a huge impression on me, and I was like, wow, I can't believe I as a young person can create and build something and pitch some of the most powerful people in the world. I think from there, I got on this kick of, this is what I want to do for my career. I want to enable as many people as possible to expand their capacity to be their best selves, to enable them to create and build, whether it be through coaching or technology or through education.