Can AI education help level the playing field?
This week on Work Is Weird Now, we’re joined by Anna Cejudo, co-CEO and co-founder of Founderz, Europe’s leading online AI business school and a She Shapes AI finalist, to tackle a timely question:
Can AI education help level the playing field?
Why traditional education is struggling to keep up
Anna’s view is that the problem is not just speed. Traditional education is often too exclusive, while much of online learning is too passive. On one side, you have prestigious institutions with strong networks, excellent teachers, and real status, but they are inaccessible to most people. On the other, you have scalable digital learning that often feels lonely, generic, and detached from real-world change.
Founderz was built to sit in the middle of that gap: combining structured, market-relevant learning with a more dynamic, collaborative, and personalized online experience.
AI as part of the learning experience
What makes Founderz especially interesting is that it does not just teach AI as a topic. It uses AI to reshape how people learn.
Anna describes the platform’s “AI Fellows” as always-on AI mentors that can respond in real time to each learner’s needs. They help students strengthen weak areas, adapt lessons to their own job context, role-play interviews, and apply ideas in practical ways.
That means the experience becomes far more personal than simply watching videos and completing a quiz. The learner is not just consuming information. They are interacting with it.
Learning AI is not the same as learning software
One of the most useful ideas in the conversation is that AI education is different from the old model of software training.
This is not just about showing someone where to click. It is about teaching people how to think with the tool — how to ask better questions, how to apply judgement, and how to bring their own expertise into the interaction.
As Anna puts it, AI is only as good as the questions you ask it. The value comes not just from the model, but from the human using it.
Why companies are still getting AI adoption wrong
The discussion also turns to what is happening inside organisations, and Anna is candid about the gap between AI access and AI capability.
Many companies, she says, are rolling out tools because of fear of missing out. They buy licences, make AI available, and assume transformation will follow. But that is rarely enough. Giving employees access to a tool does not mean they know how to use it well, or confidently, or in ways that create real value.
Without practical training and a clear reason to use these systems in everyday work, adoption stalls. At best, people use AI for low-level tasks. At worst, they avoid it altogether.
The mindset shift matters more than the tool
A big theme in the episode is that AI is not just a software change. It is a behavioural one.
For teachers, managers, and business leaders, the challenge is not simply learning a new interface. It is rethinking how work gets done, how learning is assessed, and how value is created.
Anna makes the point that the real question is not “How do we use AI because it is everywhere?” It is “Why are we using it, and how does it genuinely improve what we are trying to do?”
That is a much harder question, but also the one that matters.
Education at scale, without losing personalisation
One of the most striking examples from the conversation is the scale Founderz has already reached: more than 400,000 learners, supported by a human support team of just four people.
That only works because AI handles thousands of first-line interactions every day, responding to learners in multiple languages and escalating more complex issues to humans when needed.
It is a strong example of what AI can do well: not replacing the human layer entirely, but making high-quality support and personalization possible at a scale that would otherwise be impossible.
What this could mean for schools and younger learners
The conversation then widens beyond business and adult learning into schools and the next generation.
Anna shares examples of children already learning with AI in ways that feel intuitive and embedded rather than technical. Her point is that future generations may not think of AI as a separate tool at all. It will simply be part of how they write, explore, test, and improve ideas.
That opens up enormous potential for personalized learning, especially for students who struggle in standardised systems or need different kinds of support. AI could help teachers better adapt material to individual needs, while freeing up more time for the human side of teaching that matters most.
The bigger question: who benefits first?
But the episode does not drift into easy optimism.
If AI makes learning more tailored, more effective, and more accessible, that is hugely promising. But access will not distribute itself automatically. Some people and organisations will move faster than others. Some will know how to use these tools well, while others will hesitate, lack guidance, or be shut out altogether.
So the real risk may not just be a technology gap. It may be a learning gap.
Why this mission is personal
One of the most moving parts of the conversation is Anna’s reflection on what led her to build Founderz in the first place.
After losing her younger sister unexpectedly, she found herself questioning what kind of work was worth doing. Founderz became the answer: a way to bring together technology, impact, and education in a form that could genuinely change lives.
That sense of purpose comes through clearly. For Anna, this is not just about digital skills or business opportunity. It is about creating access to something that has long been reserved for the privileged.
Education creates opportunity
At the heart of the episode is a simple but powerful belief: education creates opportunity.
If AI can help make high-quality learning more affordable, more available, and more responsive to individual needs, then it could become one of the most powerful levellers we have.
But only if people are given the confidence, support, and permission to really use it.
This episode is for anyone thinking about AI literacy, workplace learning, the future of education, or the widening gap between those who know how to work with these tools and those who do not.
Because in the age of AI, the real divide may not just be about access to technology.
It may be about access to learning.
More information:
Anna Cejudo on LinkedIn
