Learn is a venture capital firm that provides capital and strategic support to technology-enabled companies focused on advancing human flourishing. The firm's investment philosophy centers on the belief that individuals have immense potential for growth and development, which can be unlocked through the right tools and resources. Learn's portfolio companies are selected based on their ability to contribute to key areas of human satisfaction, health, purpose, character, friendship, and financial stability, as outlined by the Harvard Human Flourishing Project.

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Learn is the first-ever and leading venture capital firm focused on tech-enabled education broadly defined.

We believe learning is the foundation of a thriving society. We're driven by the conviction that the next wave of societal advancement will be realized by forward-thinking companies that are creating products and services that empower individuals with the capacity, knowledge, and tools to thrive.

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Learn is on a mission to drive human flourishing - we're just getting started.

Education is the foundation for a thriving society and new developments in technology and public policy are unleashing a new era of human potential. We are excited to back and build the ventures that empower humans to flourish.

Excited to share some of the journey...

Will AI transform the workforce? Or is it all hype?

Learn co-founder & managing partner, Rob Hutter joined Jim Breyer and Capital Creek's Mark Shoberg to answer that question at CC's annual investor conference.

A few of Rob's big ideas shared below.

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Q: How does the current state of AI compare to traditional human abilities?

Rob: There is some real irony here. As Demis at Deep Mind quipped, years ago we leveraged AI to figure out protein folding - something no human could ever do - and no one noticed. Chat GPT leverages large language models to do something that every human can do - write an email - and now everyone is obsessed. So in an odd way the more relatable the achievement is, the more attention it gets, which is the opposite of what you’d expect.

Q: How are startups faring in the AI landscape dominated by tech giants?

Rob: In the AI landscape dominated by tech giants like Meta, Google, and Amazon, an unprecedented phenomenon is unfolding. The scarcity of expertise in AI engineering and R&D has reached a level never seen before, creating remarkable opportunities for startups. For example, a company in our portfolio achieved something truly unique: the development of a hallucination-resistant LLM, which is the only reliable way to use generative AI to teach students.

They were able to build proprietary LLMs and situate these on an enterprise grade, scalable platform that they also developed. The team is coming from Google Brain and Meta and Amazon, to be sure. Suddenly, floods of companies approached us and said, "We tried to work with OpenAI. We tried to work directly with Google, and they can't help us. Can you take our AI use case forward for us?

It's a fascinating dichotomy, I've never seen in my career the degree to which the scarcity of expertise has been so consequential for value creation. Even though the giants have massive capital scale it comes down to the specific talent, the specific people at your firm and startups are absolutely competing and thriving in this moment.

Q: Will AI really change productivity?

Rob: Large language models allow users to control any piece of software. For example, take Microsoft Excel: I can ask it to build a 7-year DCF for and then modify cost of capital, explore spread on yields, do scenario planning looking at future slowing down of growth, etc. I can do all of this simply by speaking.

The need for procedural knowledge will vanish–all you will need is conceptual knowledge. This will massively scale human productivity by flattening the learning curve.

#AI #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

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