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Anchor Founders Launch Oboe, an AI-Powered Learning App
3 min read After selling Anchor to Spotify, its founders are back—this time with Oboe, an AI app that builds personalized learning journeys. Could this be the Duolingo-killer that makes AI a real teacher, not just a helper? September 10, 2025 15:12
Anchor made podcasting simple enough for anyone to hit record—and Spotify snapped it up. Now, its co-founders Nir Zicherman and Michael Mignano are back with something more ambitious: Oboe, an AI-powered app designed to make learning as addictive as scrolling TikTok.
Here’s the pitch: Oboe doesn’t just dump content on you. It creates personalized, active learning journeys—using audio, video, and adaptive AI that responds to your pace. Think Duolingo, but instead of streaks and owls, you get an AI tutor that shapes lessons in real time.
Why this matters: Online learning is broken. Most platforms serve static content—pre-recorded lectures and generic quizzes. Oboe wants to turn learning into a dialogue, where AI adapts like a great teacher who knows when you’re struggling and when to push harder.
What’s different: Unlike thin wrappers around GPT, Oboe is building its own infrastructure—curriculum logic, guardrails to reduce hallucinations, and a data layer meant to scale beyond hobby projects. It’s a startup, yes, but one with $4M in seed funding and founders who’ve already proven they can reshape an industry.
The risk: AI tutors sound great in theory, but can they handle nuance? Education isn’t just about spitting out facts—it’s about mentorship, motivation, and context. If Oboe leans too hard on automation, it risks feeling like another chatbot in disguise.
Hot take: Anchor democratized podcasting. Oboe could democratize personalized learning. If it works, we may look back and realize this was the moment AI stopped being a helper—and started being a teacher.
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