Instructure Chooses Partners for Its Open, Interoperable Ecosystem of Solutions
At Instructure, we look at AI in a very positive way. We take a measured approach as we integrate AI tools into our learning platform and work with great partners like Kahn Academy in rolling out those tools. We are focused in three key ways: First, to be intentional. We must truly solve student and educator problems. We're not merely implementing sharp, glitzy tools. Second, to be safe. We want to be sure we are protecting student data and privacy as well as educators' intellectual property. Third, and perhaps most important, to be equitable. We aim to lay the groundwork for access by all students. We must not usher in a new generation of "the haves and the have-nots" in a future with AI.
Grush: Could you talk a bit more about the recent announcement of the partnership of Instructure and Khan Academy?
Lufkin: A little more than two weeks ago, Instructure and Khan Academy announced their partnership to bring Khan Academy's Khanmigo, an AI-powered student tutor and teaching assistant into Instructure's Canvas LMS. Earlier this year, when Khan Academy first announced Khanmigo, we were immediately struck by its potential to offer students a more engaging and personalized student experience through generative AI and ChatGPT. Students can ask their tutor questions or engage in interactive role playing that makes the characters in a book seem to come alive. Students with access to Khanmigo will become better prepared to use AI in their future work careers, too. Khanmigo also provides student assistant and classroom teaching and administration tools — from grading, to creating rubrics, and more — to help our overburdened educators save time.
Another fundamental thing to note, is that we are taking a proven AI tool, Khanmigo, and plugging it in to Canvas, a world-class LMS. Data collected over time will help us research and understand what kinds of AI tools promote student success and wellness, and how much impact AI can have on improving student outcomes.
We are taking a proven AI tool, Khanmigo, and plugging it in to Canvas, a world-class LMS.
Grush: Is any other learning platform besides Instructure currently working in a similar AI partnership for Khanmigo?
Lufkin: No, some may be building AI tools internally or possibly even finding other solutions to integrate, but no other learning platform yet has leveraged the great capabilities we have with Khanmigo.
Grush: As you plan to scale the capabilities you have with Khanmigo, how will you avoid missteps, and how are your customers helping Instructure develop, evaluate, and guide this work?
Lufkin: There are a lot of concerns around AI and the potential for its misuse or overuse. We've seen plenty of examples as other vendors face these problems. That's why we are being very measured in our approach to rolling out AI, at the same time as we are excited to move ahead.
We have a customer advisory board that is helping us steer our decisions, and we want to hear from them as opposed to making assumptions. As we look at new and different partnerships, or at additional AI-powered features within our products, and as we look at Khanmigo and how we roll it out across our products, we are working hand-in-hand with our customers to help guide our approaches. Our partners also get the benefit of feedback about what features they should be developing, and how they should work with Instructure to develop complementary tools around AI. Again, and I've said it before, we want to make sure we are solving real problems and not just putting "gee whiz" glitzy tools out there. Our customer advisory board plays a huge role in helping us get this right.
As we look at new and different partnerships we are working hand-in-hand with our customers to help guide our approaches.