How AI Is Transforming Education and Academic Success

AI is transforming education by shifting focus from knowledge transmission to skill development, enabling personalized learning, individualized feedback, and higher student motivation, ultimately redefining what academic success means.

Rethinking Academic Success in the Age of AI

In this episode, we spoke with Julie and Édouard, co-founders of Wilgo, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping education. Their perspective combines entrepreneurship, technology, and a deep rethinking of how students learn and succeed.

Rather than improving education incrementally, they argue that AI is changing its very nature.

Building Education Tools With a “Machine-First” Mindset

Julie and Édouard are serial entrepreneurs who did not come from traditional EdTech backgrounds. They see this as a strength.

Their approach is industrial and impact-driven:

• Build tools that are useful, free, and scalable
• Design systems that improve continuously through real-world feedback
• Prioritize function and impact over polished design

This “machine-first” mindset enables solutions that can scale broadly and adapt to diverse educational contexts.

From Knowledge Transmission to Skill Development

According to Wilgo’s founders, education is no longer about keeping students in school longer or delivering more content.

The core challenge has shifted to developing foundational skills, including:

• Autonomy
• Critical thinking
• Perseverance
• Attitudes toward effort and failure

They believe motivation is the primary driver of academic success. This reframes learning as an active, personalized process rather than a passive transfer of information.

AI as Both a Disruption and an Enabler

AI is already reshaping the future of work and education must adapt accordingly. While AI introduces uncertainty, it also enables breakthroughs that were previously impossible.

Julie and Édouard highlight three major transformations enabled by AI:

• Highly personalized learning paths
• Individualized feedback on open-ended answers, similar to one-on-one teacher correction
• Identification of root causes behind learning gaps using knowledge graphs

These capabilities lead to learning experiences that are more interactive, engaging, and accurate.

Democratizing Academic Success With AI

Behind Wilgo is a clear ambition: to democratize academic success and help children prepare for a constantly evolving world.

By combining AI, entrepreneurship, and a motivation-centered view of learning, Wilgo aims to make high-quality, personalized education accessible at scale.