Paradigm: The AI Education Start-up Fighting to Save Learning

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Disruption is nothing new in tech—it's every start-up's goal. Moving fast and breaking things has long been a badge of honor. But where AI meets education, we've moved well past disruption. It's chaos. Teachers are unsure if their classroom methods still work. College professors wonder if they can even tell whether it's a student or a large language model answering them.

So when venture capitalists start pouring money into start-ups that help students cheat their way through assignments, exams, and even job interviews, the question becomes unavoidable: can education and learning even be saved? And maybe the harder question—should they be?

One company thinks so. And if they succeed, Paradigm might take the lead.

The Asteroid Has Already Struck
Paradigm is a ten-month-old AI-native education company that's been turning heads with bold ideas and equally bold backers. Founder and CEO Scott Fan isn't shy about the stakes:

"Our education system is on life support. AI isn't going away. The asteroid has already struck. It's adapt or die."

For Scott, surrendering to an idiocracy where we outsource all original thought to apps isn't an option. Simply repeating what those apps say isn't learning, but rather a "sure way to atrophy one's mind" according to him.

"When humans stop learning, when we lose our curiosity, we cease being human. We have to find a way to make AI work for us, not against us."

An AI That Doesn't Hide in the Shadows
Where other platforms conspire to hide AI's fingerprints, Paradigm puts its groundbreaking tech front and center. Students aren't passive recipients; they pilot their own learning, shaping the curriculum in real time. The result? Engagement skyrockets. Powered by machine learning and behavioral science, Paradigm's AI companion is intuitive, unintrusive, and somehow not creepy. Students rediscover the curiosity they had at five, when learning was driven by discovery, not obligation. And instead of letting AI do the work for them, it engages them to "hack the system" and find new ways to enjoy learning.

A Founder's Story Born of Necessity
Scott's vision traces back to age nine, when his father, a lawyer, took the family to a remote Tibetan village for a legal aid program. Mandarin-language elementary schooling didn't exist there, so Scott—fresh out of third grade—jumped directly into seventh. The resources were minimal, but this underaged 7th grader stayed at the top of his class.

"Brilliance is universal, but opportunity is not," Scott says.

That lesson shaped his own educational experience: multiple-time world champion in robotics, BAs in Mathematics and Statistics, and a Master's in Statistics from Columbia - all in three years. And now at 22, he has founded Paradigm with a mission of giving every learner a lifelong tutor: an AI that adapts, evolves, and understands them—one that keeps them curious and coming back for more.

Leveling the Playing Field
Scott knows the divide: well-funded schools with motivated teachers on one side, under-resourced schools on the other.

"It is no secret that students belonging to high income families are significantly likelier to achieve much higher test scores. We want to change that. We want superior test prep to be available for every student."

To that end, Paradigm's answer is a radical one—a 100% free tier that will remain for as long as the company exists. Paradigm's Beta Version, which anyone can sign up for here, focuses on SAT/ACT prep, but its AI engine is curriculum-agnostic. The vision spans K–12, higher education, corporate training, and lifelong learning—anywhere curiosity exists.

Why Now
"For the first time in human history," Scott says, "access to all human knowledge—and a personalized path to it—is available to everyone. The question is: will we use it to empower ourselves or simply become more dependent?"

"From a student's perspective, sometimes it really does feel easier to use ChatGPT to write an essay, or Cursor AI to finish your coding project. We don't deny it. We recognize how much more incentivized that is than actually being curious. But we want to encourage the kind of curiosity that actually allows students to learn and retain knowledge, to use AI in a way that supplements their effort instead of replacing it.", adds Scott.

Positioning itself as not just another AI notetaker or video-generation tool, Paradigm is a fully AI-native, multi-agent education platform, which is deeply integrated with existing education models. As it grows, Paradigm promises to provide both students and educators with the precise learning/teaching context they need, as AI powers faster, richer content creation and delivers deeper personalization for each learner.

LinkedIn
paradigm.study

Paradigm
The Next Generation of Test Prep

linkedin.com
Paradigm | LinkedIn
Paradigm | 18 followers on LinkedIn. AI driven personalized education platform for both learner and teacher

SOURCE Paradigm