How does Reed Hastings think AI tutors will change education?

Reed Hastings, a former math tutor and math teacher, says children learn best one to one, but human tutors cost around $100 an hour. He expects generalized AI tutors within two to four years that quiz students, adapt to a 7-year-old or a 14-year-old, and make learning playful. He admits AI tutoring is not good yet and compares judging it today to judging medicine 200 years ago.

Hastings says his main focus now is charter schools combined with AI for learning.
Hastings points to Ello, a reading app that has added math, as an AI tutor he likes.

▸In their words

“So the idea is to have every kid have a tutor.” Reed Hastings · at 34:50 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on On with Kara Swisher (2026-10-26). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode

Q1What did Reed Hastings say about YouTube competing with Netflix on On with Kara Swisher?Q2Why did Netflix walk away from buying Warner Bros. Discovery, according to Reed Hastings?Q3What AI regulation does Anthropic board member Reed Hastings support?Q5Why did Reed Hastings stay with the Democrats when much of Silicon Valley moved right?Q6What does Reed Hastings call his best and worst decisions at Netflix?Q7What is Reed Hastings doing after leaving Netflix?

Transcribe your links. Paste a YouTube, Google Drive or podcast link and WhipScribe gives you the transcript. Transcribe a link →