Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Says Education Was a Primary Motivation for His Inventions

Las Vegas — Steve Wozniak helped kick off the personal-computer revolution decades ago when he and Steve Jobs started Apple Computer in a garage in Silicon Valley, and he says education was one of the key uses he saw for computers from the beginning. The eccentric engineer talked about his passion for education and told tales of the early days of Apple during a keynote speech yesterday at Blackboard Inc.’s user conference in Las Vegas.

Mr. Wozniak, whose nickname is Woz, entered the ballroom for his speech riding a Segway scooter, to the blaring sounds of rock music. He said he always imagined that one day computers would be able to serve as virtual teachers, giving students one-on-one instruction that cannot be delivered in traditional ways because it is too expensive to have a human teacher for each student. He said computers still are not sophisticated enough to replace teachers, but said he believes that artificial-intelligence software will one day fulfill that vision. The Chronicle caught up with the Woz after his talk, and you can see highlights of the interview in the latest installment of Wired Campus TV. —Jeffrey R. Young