# AI tutoring is a major unmet opportunity

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/ai-tutoring-is-a-major-unmet-opportunity/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Kevin Weil](https://realalpha.app/builders/kevin-weil/) · Kevin Weil is chief product officer at OpenAI. · Co-founded Warp Sciences after leading OpenAI's science unit and serving as its chief product officer.
- Host: [Lenny Rachitsky](https://realalpha.app/people/lenny-rachitsky/) · Host, Lenny's Podcast · Spent seven years at Airbnb; his product newsletter has over 1M subscribers.
- Show: Lenny's Podcast
- Episode: [OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/), Apr 10, 2025
- Moment: 1:04:40 to 1:08:08 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/ai-tutoring-is-a-major-unmet-opportunity/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=3880

## Quote

> “when you combine that with personalized tutoring you get like multiple **standard deviation improvements** in learning speed”
> — [Kevin Weil](https://realalpha.app/builders/kevin-weil/) at [1:07:17](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=4037) · Lenny's Podcast

## Takeaways

1. Teach durable habits rather than betting on a specific future job.
2. He says combining classroom education with tutoring boosts learning.
3. He is surprised an AI tutor for billions of children doesn't exist.

## About this segment

Kevin Weil says curiosity, independence and confidence will outlast uncertainty about specific careers. He calls personalized AI tutoring a major unmet opportunity, arguing that models could extend individualized learning at scale.

From “OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil”, Apr 10, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:04:45](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=3885) so this is patrick strale i worked at him with a mid-airbnb he asks he says ask what he's encouraging his kids to learn to prepare for the future i'm worried my six-year-old by the year 2036 will face a lot of competition trying to get into the top roofing or plumbing programs they need a backup plan that's funny um so our kids are we have a 10 year old and eight year old twins so they're they're still pretty young uh they're kind of i mean it's amazing how ai native they are like they just it's completely normal to them that there are self-driving cars that they can talk to ai all day long um they have full conversations with chat gpt and alexa and everything else i don't know i think who knows what the future holds i i think you know things like coding skills are going to be relevant for a long time who knows but i i think

[1:05:39](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=3939) if you teach your kids to be curious to be independent to be self-confident you teach them how to think i don't know what the future holds but i think that those are going to be skills that are going to be important in any configuration of the future. And so, you know, it's not like we have all the answers, but that's how Elizabeth and I think about our kids. And do you find that AI, there's a lot of talk about AI tutoring.

[1:06:05](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=3965) Is that something you guys are doing? Anything you're, I know they're using ChatGPTL. I love all the photos you post where they're playing with prompts and stuff. But I guess, is there anything there you're experimenting with or you think is going to become really important? this is something that it's maybe the most important thing that that ai could do maybe that's a maybe that's a grand statement there are lots of important things that ai can do including like speeding up the pace of fundamental science research and discovery which i maybe is actually the most important thing ai can do but but one of the most important things would be personalized tutoring and it kind of blows my mind that there is still I know there are there are a bunch of good products out there like you know Khan Academy does great things they're a

[1:06:51](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=4011) wonderful partner of ours Vinod Khosla has a non-profit that has that's doing some really interesting stuff in this space and is making an impact but I kind of want like I'm kind of surprised that there isn't like a two billion kid you know ai personalized tutoring thing because the models are good enough to do it now and every every study out there that's ever been done seems to show that when you have you know classrooms is still classroom like education is still important but when you combine that with personalized tutoring you get like multiple standard deviation improvements in learning speed and so it's just it's uncontroversial it's good for kids it's free chat gpt is free you don't need to pay for and the models are good enough like it still just kind of blows my mind that there isn't something amazing out there

[1:07:44](https://realalpha.app/v/scsW6_2SPC4/?t=4064) that you know our kids are using and your future kids are using and like people in all sorts of places around the world that aren't as lucky as our kids to be able to like have this sort of built-in solid education. Again, ChatGPT is free. People have Android devices everywhere. I really just think this could change the world