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Education might be the next major breakthrough field for the application of AI technology, according to Alex Peng of Think Academy. His company is releasing an AI-powered learning tablet at CES 2025 that is both very affordable and packed with technology that is geared towards helping young learners stay focused and motivated while retaining more information.

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Alex Peng’s career led him from being an Ivy League mathematician to stints in consulting at McKenzie and strategy at Microsoft, and now in learning where he is leading efforts in education technology at one of the world’s biggest education groups. Alex is the President and CFO of TAL Education Group(NYSE:TAL), a NYSE listed company from China with decades of experience at the forefront of advanced teaching methods. Think Academy is the international education technology brand of the TAL Group.

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TAL started as a tutoring business of a Peking University graduate student, and later expanded to hundreds of learning centers across China. TAL was also an early pioneer in the online education sector and incorporating technology into learning. Through Think Academy, the company has products or services in over ten countries around the world, but it is making a major upcoming push into the US market through its new AI-powered learning tablet, the Thinkpal, on display at CES 2025 now.

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As Alex describes, the Thinkpal tablet “leverages our experience from AI-powered learning tablets in China to provide a fully customized device for international markets.” Thinkpal is the first hardware product from Think Academy for the US market, and it is arriving at a time of well-documented declines in learning in the US and around the world.

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A shortage of teachers along with the impacts of less time at school and with supervised study in recent years have resulted in widespread learning loss. This has become especially apparent in the declining test scores in subjects such as reading and math.

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Thinkpal was designed to address these issues with a product that is affordable and accessible to all students. The tablet uses an AI-powered system to work alongside students and guide them through their studies and homework. Designed specifically for young learners aged 4 to 12, Thinkpal is a tablet with a camera that can read and explain materials when students do their coursework alongside the program.

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Along with containing a rich amount of educational content such as eBooks and learning exercises, the Thinkpal also has truly inventive functions. As students work on math problems, the camera can follow along and provide logic-driven, step-by-step explanations and guidance for solving the problem; not just the answers.

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It has similar features for reading and writing as well such as providing interactive prompts and instant feedback to build confidence and creativity during writing exercises. Using the camera, it also features tools like “point-and-discover” where an explanation is provides on words or sentences just by the student pointing to it on the page.

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Students can also verbally ask questions to the Thinkpal which uses its AI systems to have safe, educational, and motivational conversations. But the goal is not to replace parental tutoring and guidance, says Alex, as “their participation plays a crucial role in the learning process, and our tablet can be a good tool in their hands.”

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As a true believer in the power of education technology to enhance and equalize learning, Alex sees AI technology used in this way as capable of achieving the “impossible triangle of effective education” that is both individualized and at large-scale while also being of superior quality. As with all things AI, the technology and studies affirming its effectiveness are still a work in progress. Think Academy is partnering with academic institutions to help quantify the impacts on learning from technology like this, and the results have, so far, been encouraging for increased studying motivation and learning retention.

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Alex sees educational adoption of AI as highly meaningful and not just a system to provide quick answers as its often used in the “adult world”.

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“We believe the magic if AI is to encourage people to ask right and smart questions and obtain insights quicky so they can be enlightened to think more”, notes Alex. “Thinkpal is made in this vision, guiding students in their thinking process, helping them come up with their own answer, instead of just putting the right answers on the screen.”

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Through technology like this, every student, regardless of their background, location, or economic status, can have equal access to improved learning. That is something we can all get behind. Thinkpal will be available for sale in early 2025, and is priced at $249 (or $339 including a keyboard).

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Tag: #CES2025

Education Technology Can Get Us out of The Current Learning Rut: Alex Peng of Think Academy