Running with Giants: As AI Labs Double Down on Education, Where Can EdTech Startups Thrive

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Jaime Casap, Co-Founder at Purpose Lab; Alisa Sommer O’Hara, Global Head of Learning & Education Partnerships at Google; Tom Sayer, CEO and Co-Founder at Ello; and Dan Carroll, Co-founder and Advisor at Clever.The speakers explored how frontier AI labs including Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft have been rapidly expanding their education product ecosystems—embedding AI into learning platforms, building education workflows, and making tools increasingly free, bundled, and ubiquitous. They examined how these shifts are placing pressure on traditional EdTech business models while simultaneously creating new opportunities for startups.The session discussed where EdTech companies can still carve out durable positions as platform giants double down on education, and how startups can leverage frontier labs not only as competitors but also as enablers that allow them to build faster and smarter. Through this conversation, the panel unpacked where founders should focus, which business models are under the most pressure, and how to build, partner, and scale successfully in an era increasingly shaped by AI platform giants.