The online education platform said the new venture, called the Khan TED Institute, is being developed with TED and testing group ETS. Founder and CEO Sal Khan said the goal is to widen access to higher education while helping people adapt to a fast-changing job market.

"Higher education has served many, many people very, very well. And we think there’s many good reasons to go to a traditional university, but not everyone has access to those opportunities," Khan said earlier this week, announcing the launch of Khan TED Institute, a joint venture with TED and testing organization ETS, as quoted by Fortune.

He added: "On top of that, the world is changing very, very, very fast. We want to make sure that there’s ways even for people with traditional degrees to continue to reskill to supplement those degrees to make sure that they are optimally prepared for an ever-changing future."

Campus of Harvard University in the U.S. Photo courtesy of Harvard

The institute is expected to launch within 12 to 24 months and will seek formal accreditation for its degrees. It aims to offer a significantly lower-cost alternative to traditional programs, with tuition projected below $10,000.

By comparison, tuition at Stanford is expected to reach $67,731 in the next academic year, while Harvard’s stands at $62,226. Both universities rank among the top 10 globally in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 for data science and artificial intelligence.

The program will initially offer a bachelor’s degree in applied AI, with plans to expand to other qualifications. It is designed for a broad audience, including recent graduates and mid-career professionals seeking to reskill.

Earlier in February, Khan told The San Francisco Standard that he aims to create a new type of credential that could serve as an alternative to degrees from leading universities.

"Just imagine something that, as opposed to $400,000, costs $5,000," he said, adding that the program would be open to anyone capable of completing it.

Khan emphasized that the initiative is not intended to replace traditional universities, but to complement them by offering more flexible and accessible learning pathways aligned with workforce needs.

The institute plans to work directly with corporate partners including Google, Microsoft, Accenture, Bain, McKinsey, and Replit to shape its curriculum. The program will focus on both technical AI skills and soft skills such as collaboration, creativity, communication, and community engagement.

Khan said his long-term vision is to build a global institution with scalable access. "If you’re capable, we have as much capacity as you need."