Campus, a two-year accredited school backed by Shaquille O’Neal, has acquired an AI startup.
Campus
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the school was founded by Tade Oyerinde and backed by more than $100 million from investors such as O’Neal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Discord Founder Jason Citron, Figma Founder Dylan Field, Joe Lonsdale, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and Bloomberg Beta. It features instruction led by part-time faculty from top-tier higher learning institutions such as Stanford University, Howard University, and Princeton University.
According to its website, it offers various programs, such as an associate’s degree in business administration and information technology, as well as concentrations in applied AI. Additionally, students can earn diplomas in cosmetology, barbering, medical assisting, phlebotomy, and more.
Students also won’t have to be as burdened with the costs of higher learning, which was Oyerinde’s intention from the start.
“We did not want to add $1 to the pile of student loan debt in this country… That’s super key for me,” Oyerinde said on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast with AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas.
Acquisition
Campus is building on its momentum to improve student instruction outcomes. According to a press release, it has acquired Sizzle AI, a platform that has allowed students to learn and practice “any subject with interactive, AI-generated content.” It was founded by Jerome Pesenti, former Meta AI chief.
Campus instructors will use the technology to improve student learners’ progress and personalize instruction.
“Acquiring Sizzle accelerates our engineering roadmap by 2-3 years — they’ve built the best AI team in education and their infrastructure is so far ahead of anyone else — it’s super exciting” Oyerinde said in the news release. “Campus students already learn from the best professors from the top schools in the country — now after class ends they’ll also have access to a learning platform that actually understands what they know and adapts to help them achieve mastery faster than anything on the market today.”
Pesenti, who will now work with Campus as its chief technology officer, said:
“Big Tech has spent years building AI to keep people scrolling. But we’re harnessing the potential of the very same technology to cultivate thought, encourage inquiry, and deepen human relationships. At Campus, we’re going to be asking the big questions about letting students learn more effectively, while empowering great teachers to do what they do best.”
