Steven Jiang, co-founder and COO of Overture, started his entrepreneurial journey not in artificial intelligence but in music. He and his co-founder Aspen Buckingham met while studying music at Northwestern University. Their first venture, launched in 2022, was a video game designed to help children compose music. That early work, though seemingly unrelated to AI, laid the foundation for what Overture has become today: a company that partners with schools to teach AI literacy through hands-on, creative projects.
The pivot from music education to AI enrichment wasn’t driven by trends. It came from direct feedback from school administrators who were struggling to introduce AI to young students responsibly. Jiang recalls one administrator who expressed fear not about AI’s importance but about the lack of a safe framework for teaching it. That practical concern—how to teach AI without handing children tools they weren’t ready to use—became the new mission for Overture.
Jiang says the company didn’t pivot because AI was a trend; it pivoted because schools had a real problem and no clear solution. Overture now runs programs in more than 50 schools across Chicago and Boston, with plans to expand to over 120 programs in multiple states. The company’s approach is rooted in active learning, a philosophy Jiang traces back to his music background. “We teach kids to create with it, to make cool things,” he explains. “That’s rooted in how we think as artists: using your imagination and critical thinking to build something awesome.”
Overture’s programs include a paper-and-pencil AI model for young children, emphasizing that the company builds around school problems rather than a single product. The company also creates part-time teaching jobs for local educators, artists, and musicians. Jiang has been recognized with Forbes 30 Under 30 and Inno 25 Under 25 honors, and he speaks at universities about AI education. His long-term goal is to bring high-quality AI education to every state through mission-aligned partners.
For Jiang, the evolution of Overture is not a break from its origin but a widening of it. The company began by asking how children could make music in a new way. Now it answers the question that changed everything: how can schools help children meet AI responsibly?