It’s been touted as a cure for everything from cancer, to gridlock. But can artificial intelligence revolutionize education?

That was a key question as some of the biggest names in tech, politics and education gathered for a summit in San Francisco.

National figures included New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, educator Geoffrey Canada, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who joked about a lack of funding in education in the U.S. compared to other western economies.

"Other countries actually look at facts and evidence when they make policy. The facts and evidence are really on our side about why investing in kids makes so much economic sense and everything else,” said Clinton.

But at the conference Monday, which is sponsored by a group called Common Sense Media, an appearance by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was the main event.

In his eyes, AI is simply the future for almost everything — including education.

"AI will be a new way to use the internet. AI will be a new way to work more productively. AI will be a new way to discover science,” said Altman. “A new way to get better healthcare. It really is like a deeply enabling technology."