Expert Exchange: What does the future of online learning actually look like?

Most company videos are scripted. Leadership says the right things, hits the right notes, and nobody gets surprised.

This one was different.

We put three of Teachable’s most senior leaders on camera: Giovana Carvalho (Managing Director), Anna Damico (Head of Sales), and Olivia Owens (Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships). We asked them the things nobody usually asks: whether what Teachable sells still matters when anyone can ask ChatGPT anything, what the most common reason creators fail actually is, and where they are placing their bets for the next 12 months.

No press release framing or scripted answers.

What followed was a candid 25-minute conversation about AI, creator identity, corporate learning, and where the real opportunities are right now. Below are the moments worth keeping.

“We want people with perspectives, lived experience, taste, to continue to create the experiences that create outcomes.” –Olivia Owens, Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships, Teachable

Does AI make online education less valuable? 

Short answer: no.

The opening question was blunt. Does what Teachable sells still matter in a world where anyone can ask an AI to explain anything.

Anna didn’t hesitate.

“People need learning fast. People need people with experience sharing those learnings with them. I believe AI came to accelerate, to help Teachable as a concrete, solid, stable, reliable tool. But I don’t see that it will become obsolete. Absolutely not.” –Anna Damico, Head of Sales, Teachable

Olivia grounded it with a personal example. A few years ago, she took a time management course through a coaching program because she was struggling to juggle competing priorities. The course had content. But what actually changed her behavior was accountability.

“I could type into ChatGPT, 'here’s my calendar, help me fix this,' and do nothing with it. But I had to meet with her every week. 'How is that going? Did you actually change that behavior?' That’s what I can’t replicate.” –Olivia Owens, Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships, Teachable

Giovana went further, arguing that accountability is the core driver of learning at all.

“I need someone who’s depending on me, who’s putting faith in me. Competing against the amount of stimuli we’re all getting every single day is insane. We really need that human bonding and relationship. That emotional weight that comes with learning expectations” –Giovana Carvalho, Managing Director, Teachable

The Expert Exchange thesis in plain language: AI gives everyone access to the same information. The thing it cannot manufacture is the lived experience, judgment, and accountability that come from learning with a human who has actually done the thing. That gap is where creators build their businesses.

Generic learning is already broken

Every student who arrives at your course is there for a different reason. Students come from different backgrounds, want different outcomes, and carry very different prior knowledge. And yet most online courses still start everyone at lesson one.

Giovana called out the mismatch directly when the conversation turned to what Teachable is building next.

“Usually you start a course in the same place, but people come from from very different backgrounds, very different intents. I want to learn French because I want to go to Paris and feel like a local. That’s a very different application of the same subject.” –Giovana Carvalho, Managing Director, Teachable

The product bet she’s most excited about: learning paths that let students chart their own course. Not a fixed curriculum, but a system that assesses what each student already knows, where they want to go, and builds an experience around that.

Olivia extended the point from the creator side. Chasing completion rates misses the point entirely.

“The win is: I have this problem, this piece of information unlocked me so I could move forward. Being able to help creators deliver the content that speeds up that learning outcome moment for their student. That's the way they’re going to continue to add value.” –Olivia Owens, Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships, Teachable

What this means for creators: Shorter, more targeted content often outperforms the 50-hour course. Students don’t want volume. They want the specific insight that moves them forward. Learn how to structure your course curriculum to match student intent, not just cover the topic.

Corporate training is having a moment. Most companies are behind.

The conversation shifted to employee learning, and Anna brought data.

“Recent studies show that employees in the traditional workforce value professional development more than salary. It’s something connected to the value proposition of your brand. When you go to campus to hire talent, you can say: ‘We’re going to invest in your skills. We want to see you succeed.’ Companies doing that are attracting talent, retaining talent, and building careers in a more sustainable way.” –Anna Damico, Head of Sales, Teachable

The barrier used to be budget. Small businesses couldn’t afford dedicated learning platforms for their teams. That has changed.

“You don’t need a large investment to build a learning platform for your employees. You can own a bakery with 25 employees and teach them how to handle daily operations. In the past, very small companies had to outsource everything. The use cases go from fashion to food to upskilling to changing careers internally. Regardless of sector, industry, cohort, seniority. We have a solution for you.” –Anna Damico, Head of Sales, Teachable

Giovana made the cultural argument for why this matters beyond retention numbers.

“Corporate training used to be very stale. Employees are people. Your employees are students and consumers. They want to see what’s out there now, in real time.” –Giovana Carvalho, Managing Director, Teachable

For creators with existing audiences: Olivia pointed out that the same course you’ve built for individual students can be taken to companies. A design course for freelancers, for example, can also be sold to an in-house design team looking to level up. Teachable supports both routes. Read more about how creators use Teachable to sell to organizations.

Why most creators fail, and what to do instead

Anna had a clear answer when asked the question most company videos avoid entirely.

Anna had three answers. Fear of judgment tops the list, followed by striving for perfection and lacking consistency. Those are the traps she sees creators fall into repeatedly. Her take:

“Your first product is going to be very, very bad. Do it anyway. You need to test your methodology, your way of teaching, the appetite of your audience, whether you’re hitting the right persona. If your first launch is a success, you’re very late to this party.” –Anna Damico, Head of Sales, Teachable

Olivia built on that with an identity argument. Too many creators refuse to commit to a direction until everything is figured out.

“A willingness to be bad is critical for being a creator. You have to be willing to put things out there that are not perfect, that are not proven. And I think people don’t speak enough about the mental health side of being a creator. Every single day you’re putting yourself out there to be judged. That should not be ignored.” –Olivia Owens, Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships, Teachable

The practical move: Publish something before it’s ready. Treat your first launch as a test, not a finished product. Collect real feedback. Iterate. The creators who succeed are almost never the ones who waited until everything was perfect.

In an AI world, having an opinion is a competitive advantage

The most pointed exchange of the conversation came when Giovana raised what she called “the age of AI slop.” If everyone has access to the same tools and generates the same content, differentiation has to come from somewhere else.

“Do you have an opinion? Do you have a perspective? Do you have reasons for why you think this way? The people with the opinion are the people that always edge out for me. Because when something comes up, they’re going to be decisive. They’re going to say: we should do this.” –Olivia Owens, Head of Product Marketing & Partnerships, Teachable

Anna took it to the hiring context.

“In a world of AI where everyone can learn the same things and get the same answers, the human aspects are what will set us apart. When you get five resumes with the same hard skills and the same degree, I need to talk to those people. Don’t try to be the same. It’s not going to be sustainable.” –Anna Damico, Head of Sales, Teachable

For online course creators, this has a direct application. Formulaic content with no clear voice or perspective is already losing ground. The creators building durable audiences right now are the ones with something specific to say, and the willingness to say it.

Related: How to find your niche as an online course creator and build a business around what you actually know.

How to grow when paid media and organic reach both feel harder

Giovana asked Olivia directly: how do creators grow right now? Her answer had three parts.

1. Go deeper with who you already have

Before chasing new audiences, look at who has already bought from you. What comes next for someone who finished your course. Coaching, a higher-tier program, a community membership. Most creators underestimate what their existing audience is willing to invest.

2. Take your content to companies

The same intellectual property you’ve built for individual students can be packaged and sold to organizations. A course for independent designers can become team-level training. A sales methodology course can become onboarding for an entire revenue team. The content is already built.

3. Look at your global reach

If you pull your platform demographics, there’s a good chance you already have students in markets you’ve never actively targeted. That’s an audience that found you organically. Olivia’s point: there is probably more value in that global reach than most creators have explored.

For more on audience-building strategy: How to build and grow an audience for your online course.

The bottom line

The conversation covered a lot of ground. A few things stand out as worth carrying forward:

• AI doesn’t replace human expertise. It makes the gap between generic information and genuine experience more visible.
• Personalized learning paths are the direction the industry is heading. Creators who build for specific student intents will outperform those who build generic curricula.
• Corporate learning is a real and growing opportunity for individual creators. The tools now exist for even small operators.
• Having a clear opinion and a distinct voice is a competitive advantage, not a nicety. Formulaic content is already commoditized.
• Your first product will be imperfect. The creators who waited until they were ready mostly never shipped.
  

Watch the full Expert Exchange conversation on YouTube, or start your free Teachable trial to see how the platform can support your next move.