> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.skalecube.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # AI In EdTech: How AI is Changing the Education Industry - URL: https://www.skalecube.com/ai-in-edtech/ - Published: 2026-10-20T05:14:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-20T05:14:02.000Z - Author: Aljin Vijayan - Tags: Marketing Case Study, content creation **ChatGPT** can teach you pretty much anything. ​It can explain calculus, teach you Python, help you practice German, summarize a textbook, create a study plan, or explain any concept as if you were five.​ And unlike many traditional forms of education, it’s available 24/7. AI is changing the EdTech industry, from the way students learn to how platforms produce content, prove their value, and make money. ![Comparison infographic showing online learning before and after GenAI, highlighting the shift from searching for answers and following predefined learning paths to AI-generated explanations, personalized learning, on-demand practice, and instant feedback.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b0/52/b052d846-efa0-441d-9e89-301a9c253aec/content/images/2026/10/Copy-of-b2i6--1-.png) ​So, why would anyone in their right mind still pay for the services offered by an EdTech platform? We looked into it. Here's what we learned: ​[95% of UK undergraduates now report using AI](https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/student-generative-ai-survey-2026/?ref=skalecube.com) in at least one way, according to a 2026 survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute. Nearly half of the students say AI has improved their experience by saving them time, improving their understanding, and providing them instant support.​ And students aren’t simply experimenting with it. They are genuinely relying on AI to learn. Check this out: In 2025, [Coursera saw GenAI enrollments grow 195%](https://blog.coursera.org/presenting-courseras-2025-global-skills-report-the-skills-trends-shaping-the-future-of-education-and-employment?ref=skalecube.com), surpassing 8 million enrollments.​ AI hasn’t killed people’s appetite for learning stuff. All it has done is change what people expect from a learning platform.​ As information gets cheaper and easier to access, EdTech companies can’t just sell access to simple courses, blogs, or videos anymore.​ The question is no longer just how EdTech companies can use AI. It's what they can offer that a free AI tool can't. And that’s precisely where the real shift in EdTech is happening and that's what we'll be covering in this blog. ## How AI Tutors Are Changing Online Learning in EdTech For years, digital learning basically meant choosing a course, going through the lessons, doing the practice exercises, and moving on. AI changes that. Instead of searching through different websites for the right explanation, students can simply ask for one. They can ask the same question five different ways and get an easier explanation, generate extra practice, or have an AI tutor walk them through a problem without immediately giving away the answer. And this isn't just theoretical. Khan Academy's Khanmigo reached [2 million users](https://ar.khanacademy.org/about/annual-report?ref=skalecube.com) in the 2024–25 school year, a **731% increase** from the previous year. [Duolingo](https://www.skalecube.com/duolingo-marketing-strategy/) Max does something similar, which now lets learners have real-time conversations with its AI character Lily, with the experience adapting to the learner's skill level and providing feedback. ![Khanmigo's AI maths tutor guiding a student through an exercise and Duolingo Max's Lily video-call interface for language practice.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b0/52/b052d846-efa0-441d-9e89-301a9c253aec/content/images/2026/10/Copy-of-Playbook-1--11-.png) Google is taking the same idea further with [LearnLM](https://cloud.google.com/solutions/learnlm?hl=en&ref=skalecube.com), a family of models specifically fine-tuned for learning. The results are promising. In a 2025 study published in Scientific Reports, [students using an AI tutor](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-97652-6?ref=skalecube.com) achieved more than double the median learning gains of students in an active-learning classroom, while spending less time learning. Interestingly, **70% of students** using the AI tutor spent less than **60 minutes** on the material. Of course, one study doesn't prove that AI tutors are always more effective than teachers. But it does show the potential for AI to make learning more efficient in certain settings. The bigger shift is that learners can now access explanations, practice, and feedback on demand, without needing a human tutor available every time they get stuck. ## Why EdTech Is Shifting From Courses to Skills EdTech has always meant selling educational content. You bought a course, went through the lessons, either through videos or written guides, completed a few quizzes, and maybe walked away with a certificate. But employers don't really hire people because they finished a 12-hour video course. They hire them because they are capable of doing something valuable. And the hiring market is evolving around that idea. **86% of employers** now say they rely on skills-based hiring for entry-level roles, according to [Coursera's 2026 ](https://blog.coursera.org/coursera-micro-credentials-impact-report-2026/?ref=skalecube.com)Micro-Credentials Impact Report. That shift matters even more in the field of AI. Lightcast found that AI skills appeared in [2.5% of all U.S. job](https://lightcast.io/resources/research/stanford-ai-index-2026?ref=skalecube.com) postings in 2025, up 55% from the previous year. ![Horizontal bar chart comparing the top 10 specialized skills in U.S. AI job postings in 2025 with 2013–15, showing posting counts and percentage growth for Python, computer science, scalability, automation, workflow management, data analysis, SQL, project management, data science, and Amazon Web Services.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b0/52/b052d846-efa0-441d-9e89-301a9c253aec/content/images/2026/10/image-11.png) Image Source: Lightcast The point isn't just that demand for AI skills is growing. It's that employers need people who can actually apply those skills, not just complete a course about them. That creates an opportunity for EdTech platforms to do more than sell lessons. They can help learners practice relevant skills, demonstrate what they can do, and earn credentials that employers recognize. And employers are putting more weight behind those signals. **92% say entry-level hires** with micro-credentials perform better in their first year, while **94%** are willing to offer higher starting salaries to candidates with them. For EdTech platforms, that creates a more compelling proposition than selling another library of videos: helping learners build skills they can demonstrate and employers can recognize. As AI changes the skills employers need, the platforms that keep their learning relevant will have an advantage. ## How AI Is Changing Educational Content Creation AI isn't just changing how students consume education. It's changing how EdTech companies produce it too. Creating a course involves writing lessons, developing exercises, recording explanations, producing quizzes, translating material, and keeping everything updated. AI can now help with many of those tasks. **Duolingo** is a pretty good example of this. In Q1 2026, it published [20,500 skills across](https://investors.duolingo.com/company-strategy-overview-0?ref=skalecube.com) its language courses, compared with 7,100 per quarter in 2025 and 1,800 in 2024\. Duolingo itself says AI and automation helped make that scale possible. Khan Academy is using AI to speed up a different part of the process: creating teaching materials. [Khanmigo](https://blog.khanacademy.org/ai-teachers-khanmigo-kt/?ref=skalecube.com) can generate lesson plans, rubrics, exit tickets, and differentiated activities for teachers, turning what could take hours into minutes. [Coursera](https://www.skalecube.com/coursera-marketing-strategy/) is also using AI to create a more personalized learning experience for its users while expanding its catalog. In 2025, it added more than [4,300 new courses](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1651562/000165156226000036/cour-20260511.htm?ref=skalecube.com) with **375+ content creators**. ![Comparison infographic showing traditional educational content production tasks, including manually writing lessons, creating exercises, recording explanations, translating courses, and updating content, alongside AI-assisted alternatives such as generating lesson drafts and practice questions, assisting with video and audio, scaling localization, and supporting revisions.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b0/52/b052d846-efa0-441d-9e89-301a9c253aec/content/images/2026/10/Copy-of-b2i6.png) But here's the other side of the coin. When more platforms can produce lessons, quizzes, and courses at lower cost, content volume becomes less of a competitive advantage. Accuracy, teaching quality, and the ability to help learners actually understand something become more important. AI can help produce the material. It can't guarantee that the material is good. ## How AI Is Changing the EdTech Business Model The business model of EdTech companies has always been pretty straightforward. But AI changes things. If students can get the same or maybe even better explanations, practice questions, and personalized tutorials from AI, for little or no extra cost, paying for another extra library of videos becomes harder to justify. To combat this, EdTech companies are finding new ways to generate revenue. Duolingo offers AI-powered features through its premium plans, while Coursera combines the traditional consumer subscriptions with professional credentials and the enterprise learning model. Udemy does something similar, selling individual courses alongside subscriptions and workplace training. And these models seem to work. Duolingo ended with **12.2 million paid subscribers** and more than **$1.15 billion** in bookings in 2025. Coursera's enterprise segment generated [$255.3 million ](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1651562/000165156226000037/a2025annualreport.pdf?ref=skalecube.com)in revenue in 2025, up 7% from the previous year. Infographic comparing the traditional EdTech business model of creating courses, acquiring students, and selling courses with an AI-driven model that combines courses and AI tools, personalizes learning, and monetizes through subscriptions, credentials, and enterprise learning. ![Mindmap comparing the traditional EdTech business model of creating courses, acquiring students, and selling courses with an AI-driven model that combines courses and AI tools, personalizes learning, and monetizes through subscriptions, credentials, and enterprise learning.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b0/52/b052d846-efa0-441d-9e89-301a9c253aec/content/images/2026/10/image-15.png) But building a product people will pay for is only half the challenge. EdTech companies also need to reach learners before they decide which platform to use. YouTube, podcasts, newsletters, and creators can introduce people to educational brands long before they buy a course. According to [YouTube's January 2026](https://blog.google/intl/en-in/products/platforms/from-the-ceo-whats-coming-to-youtube-in-2026/?ref=skalecube.com) announcement, **93% of surveyed U.S**. viewers aged 18 to 27 said YouTube helps them learn new skills. That gives EdTech companies a way to introduce potential learners to their brand way before they even have to consider paying. Free videos can attract an audience, while structured courses, recognized credentials, subscriptions, and employer partnerships make it worth paying for. When AI makes educational content easier to produce, distribution and trust become even more important competitive advantages. ## Conclusion We've seen that AI has changed almost every part of education. We're seeing students getting personalized tutoring, companies producing educational content faster, and learning no longer having to follow the same path for everyone. But just because education is becoming more accessible doesn't mean every course is worth taking. In fact, you should be more wary of the course you choose. We believe, the value increasingly lies in what comes with it: its structure, practice features, feedback mechanisms, accountability, credentials, and measurable outcomes. The companies that stand out won't necessarily be the ones with the most AI features. They'll be the ones that combine useful AI with a great learning experience and give learners a reason to keep coming back. Because here's the thing: AI can teach almost anything. The next generation of EdTech companies needs to give people a reason to choose them anyway.