CodeSignal Inc., based in San Francisco and trusted by companies like Netflix, Meta, and Capital One, unveiled Cosmo on Wednesday. This new mobile app offers AI-powered micro-courses to turn spare moments into career skills.
This move marks a strategic shift for CodeSignal, previously known for assessing technical talent, but with a longstanding goal to transform workplace education. Cosmo provides over 300 courses covering areas like generative AI, coding, marketing, finance, and leadership, all through an AI tutor in an interactive chat setting.
“Cosmo acts like an AI tutor in your pocket, teaching everything from GenAI to coding, marketing, finance, and leadership,” said Tigran Sloyan, CodeSignal’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with VentureBeat. “It’s about immediate practice instead of passive learning.”
The launch addresses the skills gaps emerging from rapid AI integration. According to the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 76% of developers currently use or plan to use AI tools, though many workers lack the knowledge to use these tools effectively. Traditional corporate training, costing $20,000 to $40,000 per person for executive-level training, has been insufficient in scaling AI literacy across entire companies.
CodeSignal Transitions from Hiring Platform to Education Powerhouse
CodeSignal’s entry into mobile learning realizes a decade-long vision that took a detour into hiring technology. Sloyan founded the company in 2015 with educational goals but found skills-based hiring practices essential for alternative education to succeed.
“The dream was always to help people reach their potential through better education,” Sloyan said in an interview. “But unless companies value skills over traditional academic credentials, it wouldn’t work.”
The company focused on creating the top technical assessment platform for six years, evaluating millions of coding skills for over 3,000 companies. This experience informed Cosmo’s curriculum by identifying the skills employers genuinely value.
“We know exactly what companies seek,” Sloyan said. “This insight is crucial for preparing people for career advancement.”
AI Tutors and the Personalized Learning Challenge
Cosmo employs “practice-first learning,” engaging users with realistic scenarios immediately rather than passive content. The app’s AI tutor, also called Cosmo, adapts to each user’s knowledge level and pace through interactive exchanges.
The platform tackles the “Bloom’s two sigma problem,” which found one-on-one tutoring to be two standard deviations more effective than traditional methods, a concept previously impossible to scale.
“Personalized tutoring significantly impacts learning but hasn’t been scalable. AI changes that potential,” Sloyan said. “In 2023, the emergence of generative AI felt like a turning point for scaled, personalized learning.”
Lessons blend predetermined content with real-time personalization, allowing learners to ask questions and receive AI-generated explanations before resuming the main course of study.
Focus on Generative AI Skills as Workforce Adapts
A third of Cosmo’s initial content focuses on generative AI applications, addressing the most significant skills gap in the market. The app offers role-specific AI training for different professions.
“Generative AI skills have the largest gap,” Sloyan said. “Training focuses on understanding GenAI, its limitations, effective use, and landscape comprehension.”
This emphasis reflects the broader AI-driven workforce transformation. While some worry about AI displacing jobs, Sloyan anticipates increased demand for workers skilled in AI collaboration.
“AI won