Over the past year, I set out to analyze more than 100 EdTech companies—startups that develop technological solutions for education. Throughout this journey, my main goal was to stay up to date and deepen my knowledge of this field, in which I have been working for over a decade.

EdTech companies play a fundamental role in the educational ecosystem, even though it is well known that many of the products they develop do not deliver the “revolutionary” results they promise. In addition, many of them face structural challenges that limit meaningful discussions about education, the quality of technological tool implementation, and, above all, a lack of clarity regarding the “why.”

Among the lessons learned and reflections from this immersion, one is that, today, talking about Artificial Intelligence in education generates a lot of hype and little substance. In other words, there is an abundance of technology but a lack of pedagogy, leading to superficial views and grandiose promises that do not necessarily serve a concrete purpose.

Situations like this end up contributing to the emergence of movements that are completely opposed to and resistant to the use of technology in education. So how can we change this situation? The focus must be on understanding how technology can be used and integrated to enhance the learning process, since technology alone does not transform education, but—if used properly—it becomes an important ally.

In this regard, the analysis of EdTech companies has prompted reflection on the field of learning science, which has been gaining prominence and becoming more structured, leading these startups to cite and conduct more scientific research, although there is still a long way to go.

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Another area I explored in depth was literacy, a fundamental stage in education because it serves as the foundation for all other learning, and which remains a major challenge in Brazil.  

The roots of the problem run much deeper and range from social factors to the training of educators. But technology can help in some ways. The data that technological tools can provide helps, for example, to identify students who need closer attention from the teacher, who remains an irreplaceable part of the process. 

However, the main challenge lies in replicating these processes on a large scale and in diverse contexts. This is an area that has yet to be explored, since historically the use of innovation has always been more closely linked to the upper elementary and high school levels.

Furthermore, in my view, one of the most important uses of AI is in school assessments. It is worth noting here that any change currently being considered in the educational context already depends on changing the way students are assessed. In other words, these assessments can (and should) be transformed.

In this context, generative AI offers a faster feedback loop for students and enables new forms of assessment. Multimodal exams—such as those that use voice—can be more inclusive and assess skills that are difficult to evaluate at scale.

Education is complex and fraught with challenges, and amid all the hype and lack of purpose, we need to strike a balance, since there are already good examples of high-quality educational products that incorporate artificial intelligence and promising technologies.

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