Students using ChatGPT as an answer machine for their school work led to lower test scores, prompting AI enthusiasts to seek a solution. Khan Academy created a “Socratic-method” chatbot called Khanmigo, which withholds answers and provides hints to guide students.
Khanmigo was released in 2023, but a new study suggests that creating an AI tutor is only one hurdle in helping children improve their math skills. Students have to actually want to use it, and researchers found that many stopped using Khanmigo when it refused to give direct answers.
Researchers from the University of Toronto followed students in 18 Tennessee middle schools for two years, from 2024 to 2026. The study found that students who received the Khan Academy intervention with Khanmigo did better in math than those in regular remediation classes, but the gains were modest.
The researchers were testing whether Khanmigo could improve the performance of low-achieving students who were at least one grade level behind their peers. The students who used Khanmigo largely stopped using it when it asked questions or offered hints instead of providing direct answers.
Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, praised the study and explained that the findings confirmed what Khan Academy was seeing internally: students weren’t engaging much with Khanmigo. Khan said he doesn’t regret releasing the AI tutor before knowing whether it would be effective.
Khan Academy has since changed how Khanmigo works, integrating it directly into the platform and making it more taciturn when students ask for help before trying a problem. The company is also experimenting with ways to encourage students to use the AI tutor, such as giving them “credit” for using Khanmigo after a mistake.
It will be interesting to see whether these changes get students to use Khanmigo more. But use and engagement are only one piece of the puzzle. We still need evidence that when students regularly use an AI tutor, they actually learn more.
Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or [email protected]. This story about Khanmigo, an AI math tutor, was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers education.
Leave a Reply