The future of education will harness AI, not be replaced by it, says this founder

Here's a question that's been around ever since ChatGPT suddenly entered the mainstream: does AI provide more ways to improve and augment education, or make it obsolete?

According to Under 30 Europe auditor Joel Hellermark, the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning is full of possibilities that can help humans learn and collaborate, not replace them. He offered the calculator as a comparison: “If we think of it as an incredibly powerful calculator, you would want everyone to learn how to use the calculator. Why should you sit there and do a bunch of calculations? It's pretty inefficient."

The 26-year-old co-founder of software company Sana Labs has been immersed in the world of coding since taking online courses at Stanford aged just 13 in Sweden. Now, at his startup, he's created AI-powered software to help companies manage workforce onboarding and training. The program draws on correspondence, documents and the Internet to answer questions and help train employees. Sana introduced the product to the world when it closed in 2020 and initially offered its platform to hospitals for free (more than 2,000 accepted the offer). Sana has since landed paying clients, including Klarna, Merck and Electrolux, and raised $54.5 million.

Hellermark, who dropped out of school at 19 to start the company, envisions a near future where the content we interact with...