[Exclusive] Udemy to announce generative AI features

The education sector is often among the first forced to confront AI advancements, as AI-powered solutions often outpace humans in terms of efficiency and productivity. 

AI’s impressive ability to write, analyze and generate visual content from simple prompts has raised concerns among educators. 

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5 on November 30, some schools and universities across the globe have placed blanket bans on the use of the AI service over fears that it could contribute to widespread plagiarism and possibly damage the structure and integrity of academia. Despite the criticism and concerns, however, some tech advocates and educators claim the education sector needs to take advantage of AI technology, rather than avoiding it, if it hopes to keep pace with adjacent industries. Udemy’s recently-appointed CEO, Greg Brown, is also calling for the education field to more swiftly adapt to this changing technological landscape.

“The overarching landscape around AI and deep learning will, without question, contribute to a  transformative period,” said the Udemy CEO, adding that our landscape now is very similar to what we saw during the emergence of the internet and the iPhone.

He added that the fact that a lot of companies are already developing new products and features that leverage ChatGPT and other AI platforms illustrates just how “sustainable” this AI trend will be. 

He disclosed that Udemy plans to ride the AI wave, and has been developing its own AI-based solutions for 10 months. He added that he and his colleagues are “excited by the results of their early pilot tests.”

Although he declined to talk about Udemy’s AI projects in detail, he did share that the company is forecast to roll out automatic subtitle generation services or AI-assisted video and audio solutions, much as other tech companies have done in recent months. In March, Adobe joined an ever-growing community of US tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, that have made efforts to roll out AI-powered tools. Adobe’s Firefly can generate images based on a user’s text commands. Around a month before Adobe announced this service, Neal Mohan, the chief of YouTube, unveiled a plan to launch a new suite of tools for YouTube creators that includes, among other features, the ability to virtually swap outfits in videos and generate AI-optimized film settings in the coming months. 

Shifting toward B2B following the pandemic

The e-learning platform, which allows anyone to either teach or learn anything, experienced rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. While its B2C revenue grew by around 45% year-on-year to $326.4 million in 2020, the company plateaued in the following years, leading to a 45% fall in stock prices in 2022. Fortunately, its B2C losses were balanced out by its B2B growth. 

In 2022, the company's B2B side recorded $320 million in revenue, a growth of 68% year-on-year. According to Brown, the e-learning platform’s B2B sales have continued to accelerate following the pandemic.

“There's significant demand for e-learning services from corporations around the world, as they're thinking about moving employee education away from an offline model towards an online model, and leveraging digital platforms to extend education opportunities to hybrid or remote workers,” Brown said. He added that their B2C side, despite seeing decreased business, still remains buoyant in terms of traffic, new course creation, and instructor payments.

Over the past few years, the Silicon Valley e-learning platform has been expanding its presence in global markets. It partnered with domestic education companies to enter different national markets, including China and India. In South Korea, the US firm has been working with the education company Woongjin ThinkBig since 2021.

According to Richard Qiu, Udemy’s SVP of Global Business Development, corporate customers are becoming even more important than before as retraining at a corporate level has become essential. He emphasized that companies must carry out ongoing education regarding  practical skills relevant to the business world  in order to keep not only organizations but also individuals up-to-date.

“The shelf life of skills learned at college is probably not going to last for your entire decades-long career. Therefore, education needs to allow employees to continue to upskill and rescale in the workplace,”  Qiu said. “We are heavily investing in bridging the widening gap between universities and corporations by developing well-curated learning paths and courses that help students to develop necessary skills.”