Teachable · Case study

Using AI to accelerate creators' Day 0 content readiness

AI course & sales page creation
The AI assistant turns an empty lesson block into a full lesson draft
✦ AI assistant
97Klesson drafts generated by 10K+ users in 6 months
45K+AI-generated sales pages since launch
80%+satisfaction with AI-generated content
+4.2%free-to-paid conversions

Context

Teachable is an online course platform where creators build, market and sell courses and coaching.

100K+creators
$500M+annual GMV
15Mstudents

Creators were already using AI. Teachable wasn't.

94%

of creators already integrate AI into their business. Competitors were using AI as a core acquisition strategy.

The problem

Most creators would rather edit something than start from a blank page.

  • Creating a course from scratch was slow
  • Most creators needed guidance along the way
  • Teachable's tools felt clunky and outdated
The course setup guide before this project
Before: an empty course setup guide. New creators landed here with an empty curriculum and a list of manual steps: build the curriculum, price the course, set up the purchase journey and customize it. Every step started from a blank page.

The bet

Faster creation, more published courses

HypothesisStreamlining course and sales page creation will help more creators publish, reach the AHA moment faster, and upgrade.
↓Time to publish and make the first sale
↑Creators with published courses
↑Free-to-paid conversions

Design approach

From OKRs to shipped AI tools

  1. 1Set goalsDefined H2 OKRs with my PM, aligned to company targets
  2. 2BrainstormLed a session with pod leads and stakeholders on AI for creators
  3. 3IterateExplored many versions balancing automation with user control
  4. 4Refine with engineeringTuned AI output quality and usability together

Solution

Three tools for three different needs

Milestone 1AI Writing AssistantGenerates lesson content quickly
Milestone 2AI Course StarterDrafts a full course outline with lessons
Milestone 3AI Sales Page GeneratorWrites marketing copy and suggests images

Try it

From a blank lesson to a first draft

The AI Writing Assistant sits next to the lesson editor. Pick a topic, or write your own, and press Generate.

Lesson: Introduction to animal telepathy

Text and images block

Start writing, or let the AI assistant draft this lesson for you…

AI assistant ⚗ Experimental

Use the power of AI to generate content for your lessons.

Help us improve! Did this meet your expectations? 👍 👎

An interactive recreation of the shipped design. The demo writes its own sample text, it isn’t calling a real AI model.

Iterations

Two key decisions

AI Writing Assistant

An AI button inside the existing modal felt cramped, so I moved to a full-screen experience.

Early wireframe: AI prompt squeezed into the existing modal
Before: inside the modal
Later wireframe: full-width modal with an AI assistant panel
After: full-screen with a side panel

AI Course Starter

A two-step flow: describe your course to generate an outline, then review the full course draft.

Wireframe: generate an outline from a course description
Step 1: Generate an outline
Wireframe: review the course draft and lesson previews
Step 2: Review the course draft

Key decisionGenerating everything this way was lengthy and slow, and risked drop-off. So I worked with developers to make the loading state asynchronous: creators keep working while AI content loads in the background.

Curriculum

History of Magic
  • ⋮⋮IntroductionGenerating…
  • ⋮⋮What magic meant in the ancient worldGenerating…
  • ⋮⋮Magic in medieval folkloreGenerating…
  • ⋮⋮Tips for completing this courseGenerating…
  • ⋮⋮How to join our communityGenerating…
✎ Keep editing while AI works in the background
Asynchronous generation

Lessons fill in one by one in the background. Creators can rename, reorder and edit the outline in the meantime, instead of staring at a loading screen.

Final designs

What shipped

1

AI Writing Assistant

Generates lesson content inside the lesson builder

Lesson builder text block with the AI assistant button The assistant panel open, with a full AI-generated lesson draft in the block
Prototype AI Writing Assistant, start to finish
2

AI Course Starter

Turns a short course description into a full course and sales page

Name your course, with a 'Help me get started with AI' checkbox Jump-start your course: describe it so AI can generate an outline Course generator with a description of the History of Magic course Course setup with AI-generated lessons and sales page
Final prototype AI Course Starter, from course description to generated course

Key learnings

What I'd carry forward

AI support, not AI controlUsers want help without losing creative control, so editing stayed front and center.
Prompt engineering mattersWorking closely with engineers improved output quality and consistency.
Ship a proof of concept soonerAn earlier, quicker test would have surfaced key insights faster.

By balancing AI automation with user agency, we built a scalable feature that removed friction for creators and drove business results.