GPAs & GPTs

[Originally posted on Substack. Subscribe here to read it first.]

From the moment I saw the clever title, I knew I was going to enjoy reading Sal Khan 's new book Brave New Words. Inside, Sal, founder of Khan Academy , makes a strong case for leveraging AI to help learners learn and teachers teach. We're short about 300,000 teachers in the U.S., with 90% of school districts reporting teacher shortages. His book brims with real-world examples illustrating how AI can improve education across subjects. The biggest surprise to me was where he said AI is showing the biggest gains — not in math or science, but in student confidence. I'm excited to shine a light on more AI-powered nonprofits (APNs) around the world that are elevating education for everyone.

I’m Just a Quill

“We got about as close to making grammar cool as we probably ever will,” said a middle school teacher in a recent The Chronicle of Philanthropy feature. No, they weren’t talking about Schoolhouse Rock; they were raving about Quill.org . Quill offers free literacy activities to boost reading comprehension, writing, and language skills for students from elementary to high school. As one of the earliest APNs, Quill has been perfecting predictive AI models since 2019. Its venture into generative AI is special for a couple of reasons. First, Quill’s AI isn’t just smart — it’s painstakingly trained, with custom rubrics showcasing up to 100 examples of good and bad writing for each prompt. Second, Quill works with hundreds of teachers to vet every learning activity, reiterating that AI is here to support teachers, not replace them. With such meticulous efforts, it's safe to say Quill is "write" on track to revolutionize literacy education.

+ Lenny Learning tackles a different but equally important kind of curriculum: student mental health. The AI-powered tool helps schools assess student needs and create custom lessons based on clinically-informed content. Lenny saves teachers up to 5 hours of lesson planning every week!

+ The newly released Coach is preparing learners for life outside the classroom. Earlier this week, CareerVillage.org released its free Coach learner experience. The platform harnesses generative AI to provide users with help drafting résumés and cover letters, exploring careers, staging mock interviews, and more. 

“Let's use AI to create a new golden age for humanity, a time that will make today look like a dark age. From my vantage point, nothing could be more inspiring and important than that." - Sal Khan, Brave New Words         

Back(pack) to the Future

Khan Academy has done more than inspire students globally — it’s also inspired new nonprofits. Jamie Alexandre was an intern at Khan Academy when he asked himself: how could we deliver Khan Academy-level education to the then 4 billion people still offline? And thus, Learning Equality was born. Today, its AI-powered platform Kolibri is like a digital backpack full of top-tier educational resources for remote communities. Kolibri’s special power is aligning its vast library of educational content with regional curriculum standards at a fraction of the time and cost. A recent example: in a remote Ugandan region, Kolibri classified 12,000 learning resources and aligned them to 2,000 local educational goals. This turned months of manual work into mere days. With Learning Equality, teachers get an A+ for alignment!

+ Teaching by example: Khan Academy sparked Learning Equality, and Learning Equality sparked O-lab App . Tania Rosas , another Fast Forward Startup Accelerator alum, founded O-Lab after her great experience using Kolibri as a teacher in Colombia.

“To realize AI's potential in global education, large-scale behavioral change is necessary. This requires deep partnerships with education systems; otherwise, the impact of AI will be limited to a minority of learners who are both able and willing to use it independently.” - Abdulhamid Haidar, Founder of Darsel        

A-B-C, It’s Easy as…1’s and 0’s?

Learning the alphabet at an early age isn’t always a given, and Rocket Learning is on a mission to change that. Rocket Learning is building the largest repository of play-based learning activities and utilizing AI-powered content to educate millions of preschool-aged children in India. It does this in partnership with Anganwadi centers — government-sponsored community centers that are a lifeline for families. The curriculum is delivered via WhatsApp to both Anganwadi workers and parents, making it a powerful tool for reducing gaps in early childhood education. Rocket Learning truly understood the assignment.

+ Family engagement in education is important. TalkingPoints is built on this fact. Similar to Rocket Learning, TalkingPoints is building a feature that generates personalized activities to help families engage their children at home around what they are learning in school. Founder Heejae Lim joined the Overdeck Family Foundation ’s Spotlight On Growth podcast to discuss how they’re tapping into the power of AI to personalize communication.

+ Pop quiz! How are APNs accelerating progress on the SDGs? Google.org’s Research Brief highlights APNs and hyperlocal initiatives that are moving us forward on SDGs, including SDG 4 (Quality Education). 

Quick Bytes 

Other Sector Stories

• Raffi Krikorian , CTO of Emerson Collective , is one of my favorite voices in the tech for good space. In his recent interview with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, he invites nonprofits to adopt a data-curious approach and shares best practices for nonprofits deploying AI.
• In a rare move, the biggest tech companies came together to form an alliance. Led by APN Thorn and responsible tech leader All Tech Is Human , ten tech companies committed to defending children from sexual abuse as a future with generative AI unfolds.
• A few weeks ago, Adalat AI CEO Utkarsh Saxena rocked the Fast Forward Demo Day stage with his AI transcription solution for courts. On The Tech Business Podcast, he dives into how Adalat AI could tackle India's 50M case backlog.

APN Funding News 

• KPMG US launched its "AI Impact Initiative” to bring AI to nonprofits. The efforts include funding, skills-based volunteering, and pro-bono work in the nonprofit sector.  
• Kapor Foundation, Omidyar Network , and the San Francisco Foundation committed $25M to accelerate responsible, equitable, and ethical AI in California.
• The Bezos Earth Fund opened applications for its AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge, announcing up to $100 million in grants.

Let’s Talk

I am living and breathing AI for humanity these days. If you are too, let’s talk! 

Link Library 

• AI for Humanity Landing Page
• AI for Humanity Speaker Bureau (great AI speakers for your events)
• AI for Humanity Resource Hub (recommended reads, listens, and watches)