Stemuli has pioneered yet another educational innovation: the world’s first AI-native learning platform!

And students get to learn AI literacy, problem-solving and math skills for their roles in a future economy, through a new video game called Founder Tycoon.

Dallas-based educational technology company Stemuli, which started in 2016, created the first game-based learning metaverse in the United States. The goal: to engage and provide opportunity for all students–particularly those in underserved areas–to prepare for their dream jobs.

Stemuli Founder and CEO Taylor Shead continues to expand those opportunities for engagement and success, through new ideas and applications.

AI at their service

In Founder Tycoon, students create a business based on a need they’ve seen and researched. Then, as entrepreneurs, they run that company, in a live economy. They’ll create products and make real decisions, with AI assistants carrying out their directions. These actions have consequences, as each “entrepreneur” competes with others for resources and a finite number of clients.

Taylor explains that the new game came about through a collaboration with nonprofit Heartland Forward, with the goal of preparing students across rural Arkansas for future careers in an AI economy. The design process involved collaboration with a group of about 50 students, over, as Taylor says, “18 to 24 months”.

2026 saw the rollout of the game in 13 high schools across rural Arkansas, as well as a launch in Cleveland during the summer.

“And then we’re expanding to Oklahoma,” Taylor says, “and we have a list of about eighteen other states out there…that we want to hit, and make sure have access to Founder Tycoon.”

Even more is coming–including a launch of algebra-related Founder Math by LAUSD and possibly, a version of Founder Tycoon for adults, in 2027!

Taylor talked about her recent experiences with Stemuli, shared the story of creating Founder Tycoon, and offered a closer look at what participants get to learn and do.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• Some of the milestones Taylor has experienced with Stemuli since our 2022 conversation;

• Her recollections of winning the United Nations AI for Good Summit’s Innovation Factory Award, in 2024;

• The story of Founder Tycoon;

• Where and how the game will be launching in additional schools;

• The collaborative process with students:

• What a participant will experience, their first time in Founder Tycoon;

• How the game’s “consequence engine” works;

• Stemuli’s release of Founder Math, for LAUSD;

• Some of the feedback Taylor and her team received ;

• How a teacher can facilitate learning, with Founder Tycoon;

• How educators can get game accounts so they’ll understand how the game works;

• A hint at what’s coming for adult learners;

• A timeline for the launches;

• Some of Taylor’s favorite experiences, seeing the results from students working in the co-design process;

• Some “guardrails” Stemuli uses, for positive use of AI.