OpenAI: you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few Cheggs

As an academic keenly interested in disruption, my attention was caught recently by news of the downfall of Chegg, the US edtech company.

Created in 2006 by three students from Iowa State University as a forum to exchange textbooks, provide help with assignments and homework, rent digital and physical textbooks, offer online tutoring and other similar services, its name was a contraction of chicken and egg, as in which came first.

As it grew and evolved, Chegg joined the NYSE, becoming the go-to site for lazy students who couldn’t be bothered to write their own essays, which were farmed out to other students in India and Pakistan. In response to students who were “chegging homework”, many universities threatened wrongdoers with expulsion.

Nevertheless, by March 2020, Chegg had more than 2.9 million subscribers who paid around $14.95 per month to use its services; as the pandemic kicked in, it enjoyed a triple-digit increase in its stock market valuation, attributed to the boom in distance education. In 2021, Forbes named Chegg the most valuable edtech company in America.

Now, Chegg’s shares are trading at 99% below their value at the beginning of 2021, mainly due to ChatGPT. Since the appearance of OpenAI’s generative algorithm at the end of November 2022, Chegg…