Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

Personalized AI Language Education — with Andrew Hsu, Speak


Listen Later

Speak (https://speak.com) may not be very well known to native English speakers, but they have come from a slow start in 2016 to emerge as one of the favorite partners of OpenAI, with their Startup Fund leading and joining their Series B and C as one of the new AI-native unicorns, noting that “Speak has the potential to revolutionize not just language learning, but education broadly”.

Today we speak with Speak’s CTO, Andrew Hsu, on the journey of building the “3rd generation” of language learning software (with Rosetta Stone being Gen 1, and Duolingo being Gen 2). Speak’s premise is that speech and language models can now do what was previously only possible with human tutors—provide fluent, responsive, and adaptive instruction—and this belief has shaped its product and company strategy since its early days.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adhsu/

https://speak.com

One of the most interesting strategic decisions discussed in the episode is Speak’s early focus on South Korea. While counterintuitive for a San Francisco-based startup, the decision was influenced by a combination of market opportunity and founder proximity via a Korean first employee. South Korea’s intense demand for English fluency and a highly competitive education market made it a proving ground for a deeply AI-native product. By succeeding in a market saturated with human-based education solutions, Speak validated its model and built strong product-market fit before expanding to other Asian markets and eventually, globally.

The arrival of Whisper and GPT-based LLMs in 2022 marked a turning point for Speak. Suddenly, capabilities that were once theoretical—real-time feedback, semantic understanding, conversational memory—became technically feasible. Speak didn’t pivot, but rather evolved into its second phase: from a supplemental practice tool to a full-featured language tutor. This transition required significant engineering work, including building custom ASR models, managing latency, and integrating real-time APIs for interactive lessons. It also unlocked the possibility of developing voice-first, immersive roleplay experiences and a roadmap to real-time conversational fluency.

To scale globally and support many languages, Speak is investing heavily in AI-generated curriculum and content. Instead of manually scripting all lessons, they are building agents and pipelines that can scaffold curriculum, generate lesson content, and adapt pedagogically to the learner. This ties into one of Speak’s most ambitious goals: creating a knowledge graph that captures what a learner knows and can do in a target language, and then adapting the course path accordingly. This level-adjusting tutor model aims to personalize learning at scale and could eventually be applied beyond language learning to any educational domain.

Finally, the conversation touches on the broader implications of AI-powered education and the slow real-world adoption of transformative AI technologies. Despite the capabilities of GPT-4 and others, most people’s daily lives haven’t changed dramatically. Speak sees itself as part of the generation of startups that will translate AI’s raw power into tangible consumer value. The company is also a testament to long-term conviction—founded in 2016, it weathered years of slow growth before AI caught up to its vision. Now, with over $50M ARR, a growing B2B arm, and plans to expand across languages and learning domains, Speak represents what AI-native education could look like in the next decade.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Latent Space: The AI Engineer PodcastBy swyx + Alessio

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

66 ratings


More shows like Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

View all
a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,040 Listeners

The TWIML AI Podcast (formerly This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence) by Sam Charrington

The TWIML AI Podcast (formerly This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence)

441 Listeners

Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn by Jon Krohn

Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn

298 Listeners

NVIDIA AI Podcast by NVIDIA

NVIDIA AI Podcast

331 Listeners

Practical AI by Practical AI LLC

Practical AI

192 Listeners

Google DeepMind: The Podcast by Hannah Fry

Google DeepMind: The Podcast

198 Listeners

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) by Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

88 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

428 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

121 Listeners

This Day in AI Podcast by Michael Sharkey, Chris Sharkey

This Day in AI Podcast

201 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

491 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

469 Listeners

AI + a16z by a16z

AI + a16z

31 Listeners

Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

Lightcone Podcast

22 Listeners

Training Data by Sequoia Capital

Training Data

43 Listeners