Sam Altman–Backed Campus Acquires AI Start-Up

Campus, on online two-year college backed by Sam Altman and Shaquille O’Neal, has acquired AI learning platform Sizzle AI for an undisclosed amount. 

Campus will integrated Sizzle AI’s interactive, AI-generated content into its online instruction, and faculty will use it to track students’ academic progress to provide more personalized instruction and feedback, the company said in a press release. According to the release, Sizzle AI has more than 1.7 million users. 

Sizzle AI founder and former Meta AI chief Jerome Pesenti will join Campus as its chief technology officer. 

The acquisition accelerates the online learning platform’s development by two to three years, Tade Oyerinde, founder and chancellor of Campus, said. “They’ve built the best AI team in education and their infrastructure is so far ahead of anyone else—it’s super exciting.”

Founded with the goals of offering low-cost degrees and improving college completion rates, Campus accepted its first cohort of students in 2023 and now serves over 3,000 students, according to its website. It launched as Campuswire in 2016 with seed funding from Altman, CEO of OpenAI; former NBA star O’Neal; Jason Citron, the CEO of Discord; and others. 

The institution offers three online associate degrees taught by adjunct faculty also working at selective colleges including Stanford and Vanderbilt Universities and the University of California, Berkeley. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.