GenAI Opt-out window is now open

Hello Instructors!

We want to officially announce that the opt-out period for our Generative AI Program (GenAI Program) begins today, August 21st, and goes through September 12th. The choice to participate in the GenAI program is yours. If you want to participate, no action is needed! If you decide this isn’t right for you, you can update your preference now through September 12, 2024 at 11:59PT. More information is available on our Support Page.

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  • Dami
    Dami Posts: 32 traveler rank

    If we choose not to participate, will our courses be affected in any way with respect to the promotional/advertising campaigns that Udemy carries out?

  • RandyMinder
    RandyMinder Posts: 675 visionary rank

    Can you summarize how this helps instructors earn more? I see the benefits to Udemy. The benefits to instructors are less clear to me.

  • Chrystie
    Chrystie Posts: 536 traveler rank

    @Dami

    Thank you for your question. This is one we've heard before and addressed in our FAQs.

    I'd like to assure you that we will continue to surface courses of opted-out instructors through our core capabilities, such as search and recommendations, so non-participating instructors can still grow their success on Udemy. Undoubtedly,  we expect GenAI to drive more attention to courses included in the GenAI program.

  • Chrystie
    Chrystie Posts: 536 traveler rank

    @RandyMinder

    Great question! I would recommend watching the GenAI Product Preview replay for a full description and preview of the tools that we are building to understand the full spectrum of benefits. But here is a quick summary of the benefits that we see for instructors who remain opted-in to the program.

    We anticipate that instructors will benefit by: 

    • Additional course exposure and learner engagement through AI tools
    • Access to course creation & optimization tools
    • Potential new revenue streams

    Hope this helps!

    Chrystie

  • @Chrystie The due date for opting out is approaching and I've been reviewing the documentation to try to figure all of this out. I understand that on Udemy for Business, if an individual lecture or section was added to a "learning path," that would still involve compensating the instructors for their "time watched" as far as revenue share.

    However, is the plan to include specific lectures or sections in combined "courses" outside of Udemy for Business? If so, what is the revenue share for instructor in that model? I don't think that's explained in the various documents as far as I can tell. Udemy has reduced the instructor revenue share by a lot over the years, even though it is the content made by instructors that makes Udemy money, so I am making sure there is not a plan to monetize instructors' content without a specific, written-down revenue share as far as non-UFB watch time or sales, just like there is a specific revenue share for organic search, etc.

    The documentation talks about "increased discoverability" and "course exposure" and all that, as if that's the only reward, but I hope not, of course. Is Udemy planning on monetizing non-UFB courses without compensating instructors for that? It states in the documentation that Udemy is "committed" to figuring this out or something, but it is very vague.

    I also want to make sure Udemy does not plan on using instructor's names or likenesses or even their voice to combine with other instructors' lower quality courses produced with AI (imagine a person makes a course using AI with computer voiceover, and then Udemy takes a popular instructor's voice who does not use AI voiceover, and combines them? I assume that's not part of this but just checking); is this explicitly stated not to be the case, i.e., is the plan to keep lectures intact "as is" but to maybe combine them in a combined course on UFB for now, as in a learning path?

    And again, will instructors get paid for that and if so, what is the percentage share, as far as the "potential revenue share"? I assume Udemy will not monetize instructors' content without giving them a percentage, without consent? I am trying to figure out if I want to opt into the AI or not.

  • @Chrystie no worries about the one part about revenue, I can't edit the reply and editing replies is not possible apparently, so I found this: "If new AI revenue streams are created, these will be added to the Udemy Business revenue and flow to the instructor revenue pools." So it sounds like if lectures are combined in a learning path, that would be added to UFB revenue like a normal UFB watch time revenue. Anyway, those of us who opt in can see how this goes and then decide whether or not to opt in the next year. I am working on updating many of my courses and launching some new ones. :-)

  • Is there any point being opted-in if none of your courses are on UFB ?

  • michael569gardner
    edited September 16

    Important Announcement for Instructors: The opt-out period for the Generative AI Program (GenAI) starts Aug 21st and ends Sep 12th, 2024. To opt out: HP Instant Ink
    Resources:
    Teaching Center articleGenAI PolicyInstructor GenAI Program FAQsGenAI Product Preview recording
    Participate by taking no action.