Jun 20, 2025 · 30m · a16z
TikTok & AI Have Changed Education Forever - What it means for Teachers, Students & Parents
Zach Cohen · 19m spoken Justine Moore · 6m spoken Olivia Moore · 2m spoken AI Taylor Swift · 7s spoken AI Drake · 3s spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of "This Week in Consumer AI" by a16z, hosts Justine Moore and Olivia Moore interview EdTech investor Zach Cohen to explore how generative AI is transforming education across K-12, higher ed, and direct-to-consumer learning. The discussion highlights the rapid adoption of AI productivity tools by teachers, shifting institutional policies, novel learning modalities like viral social media content, and the future of personalized AI tutoring.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 5.3 Guest disagreement 1.0 The host pushing back 1.5
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:19 Rejecting Teacher Replacement Premise
Zach directly rejects the idea that AI will replace teachers anytime soon, pointing out that adoption is years behind consumer AI and focused only on basic worksheet generation.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 13:54 Host Pressing on Teacher ReplacementJustine directly challenges the guest on the controversial budget trade-off between paying teacher salaries and purchasing AI software.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:14 Teachers as Primary AI BuyersZach corrects common assumptions about edtech adoption by explaining that teachers, seeking relief from administrative tasks, are the biggest power users and buyers.
The host holds their own ▶ 23:11 Host Proposing Radical AI OverhaulJustine demonstrates deep domain synthesis by contrasting Zach's pragmatic institutional view with a thesis on unbundling teaching content from delivery.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a16z Legal Disclosures and Disclaimer | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | Olivia sets up the discussion by bringing up .edu usage data during ChatGPT's first year. Zach explains how school districts and higher education institutions have shifted from initial anti-AI bans to proactive adoption. | |
| Market Dynamics and Teachers as Top AI Buyers | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Justine outlines the fragmented segments of the education market from K-12 to adult reskilling. Zach reframes expectations by revealing that teachers, driven by administrative burden relief, are actually the primary buyers and power users. | |
| Evaluating EdTech Efficacy: Investor Metrics vs Outcomes | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Olivia asks how investors differentiate between high usage and true learning efficacy. Zach breaks down venture metrics like cohort engagement versus the long feedback loops of educational evaluation. | |
| Alpha School Case Study and 2-Hour AI Learning | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Justine highlights the viral Alpha School case study featuring two-hour AI-driven learning blocks. Zach contextualizes its success as an experimental lab benefiting from high tuition and self-selected students. | |
| Will AI Replace Teachers? Augmentation vs Replacement | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | Justine asks whether school districts will replace teacher payroll with AI software. Zach rejects the premise, explaining that current AI tools merely augment teacher productivity rather than replace human instruction. | |
| Viral 'Brain Rot' Content and AI Learning Modalities | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | The hosts discuss deepfake AI video trends like On Lock Learning and celebrity math explanations. Zach explains how generative media lets students flexibly switch learning modalities. | |
| Unbundling Content Delivery and Parent Perspectives | 6 | 5 | 2 | 3 | Justine contrasts Zach's institutional perspective with her own radical view of replacing traditional schooling with AI tutors. Zach responds by explaining textbook publisher gatekeeping and parental return-on-investment demands. | |
| 1-Year Predictions: Higher Ed and AI Teacher Influencers | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Olivia asks for one-year predictions, and Zach highlights higher education adoption. Justine shares her vision for personalized AI teacher influencers that adapt to student pace. |
Statements from this episode (19)
Cohen: 80% of US K-12 school districts have AI procurement teams
“I think, 80% of districts now have, like, a generative AI team that's going after and looking at procuring, kind of, new technologies. So not only is there, like, earmarked budget, there are people who are thinking and proactively looking for it.”
Cohen: Ohio State and other universities mandate AI in curriculum
“There's some schools that are like mandatory AI usage like in the curriculum. I think Ohio State is one of them.”
Cohen: Teachers are paying out-of-pocket for daily AI software
“It's teachers who are willing to kind of pay and use this in their every single day workflow.”
Cohen: 50% of US teachers have used MagicSchool AI
“I think Magic School has over like five million users. I think 50% of US teachers has used their tool.”
Cohen: Top-Revenue AI Edtech Startups Sell Bottom-Up to Teachers
“Most of the most mature AI companies from a revenue standpoint have been selling to teachers bottoms up, which is tremendous.”
Cohen: Top EdTech products achieve 4-5 days of weekly user engagement
“Because if a student is doing this to just get their homework done, I don't think you're gonna see that level of engagement. You're gonna see it taper off around certain times, certain months, or it'll be a little spikier. But people who are seeing kind of fla…”
Cohen: AI remains at the periphery of the education system
“AI is still at the periphery of education, right? So since it's at the periphery of education, we don't actually know what the outside's impact is. It's helping teachers create assignments better. It's helping students get homework done, but it's not like core…”
Cohen: Alpha School students rank in top 1-2% nationally
“I think they rank like 99th percentile in a few different assessments. Their students are now like top one, top two percent in the nation.”
Zach Cohen: Main education AI use case is generating worksheets
“The biggest use case of AI right now is generating an answer sheet or a worksheet assignment.”
Cohen: Hesitant to invest in AI edtech focused solely on teacher productivity
“One of the reasons why I've had, like, a little bit of a hard time investing in these early education companies is they're allowing a teacher to be a lot more productive and be 10 times better at their job, have feel like burnout is a lot lower. Incredible, ri…”
Zach Cohen: Generative AI tools make teachers 10x better at their jobs
“They're allowing a teacher to be a lot more productive and be 10 times better at their job.”
Cohen: AI will eliminate active teaching but won't replace human teachers
“I think we're very far away from AI teachers. Now, I think what will happen is, like, the amount of active teaching will go away because I think you can, like, have really good active teaching with AI but I don't think it's going to fully replace a human teach…”
Moore: Deepfake celebrity math tutorials by OnLock Learning get millions of views
“Every video they post gets millions of views, and it's, like, explanations delivered by, like, deep fake AI celebrities of, like, math and physics content.”
Zach Cohen: AI will let students freely select learning modalities by topic
“We're gonna have, like, a kind of, like, factioning of, like, a bunch of different types of Learners where depending on the topic and your understanding of the topic, you could pick whatever modality you want.”
Cohen: Textbook publishers remain primary gatekeepers of classroom content
“They are still the gatekeepers of a lot of content and what gets in and out of the classroom.”
Moore: Traditional schooling should be replaced entirely by 24/7 AI tutors
“And then I'm on the other end of the spectrum where I'm, like, blow it all up and have everyone be taught by an AI tutor, like, all of the time.”
Cohen: AI startup charged $500 monthly promising 3rd-grade literacy in 3 months
“I think, like, one of the most interesting pitches I've seen, and the company was super early, was an AI reading company, which basically, like, sent kids books, and then they had AI teach the kids how to read, And it was mostly three to four year olds, and it…”