Coursera is one of the world’s leading online learning platforms, committed to providing universal access to high-quality education for everyone. With over 100 million learners, 7,000+ courses, and partnerships with more than 300 leading universities and companies, Coursera has transformed how people learn in today’s digital age.
But as the platform expanded across the globe, a critical challenge emerged: how to offer genuinely localised, emotionally engaging learning experiences for students across different languages and cultures, without compromising authenticity or taking on unsustainable production costs.
Mustafa Furniturewala, CTO at Coursera, oversees Coursera’s engineering team and AI initiatives. His work focuses on building generative AI tools (such as AI dubbing, voice cloning, lip‑sync, etc.) and ensuring that technological advancements support the core mission of creating personalised, accessible, and effective education for everyone, everywhere.
“Coursera is on a mission to deliver learning experiences globally at scale,” Mustafa said. “And to do that effectively, we have to remove language barriers, personalise learning, and preserve the quality and intent of the original instruction. That’s where generative AI, and specifically HeyGen, has been transformational.”
Delivering immersive, instructor-led learning experiences
Before using HeyGen, Coursera had already been using AI effectively to scale text and audio translations. However, video localisation still remained a major challenge.
“We started with text,” Mustafa said. “That was manageable, but when it came to translating video content with the instructor’s tone, emotion, and lip movements synced to the new language, it simply was not feasible. It was too expensive and too complex to do at scale.”
The breakthrough came when Mustafa and his team discovered HeyGen, specifically voice cloning and lip sync. Coursera implemented HeyGen to generate localised versions of instructor‑led videos in French, Spanish, German, and other languages, preserving not just what is said, but how it is said.
“What was most surprising was how natural it felt,” Mustafa said. “We were able to take a video of an instructor speaking English and make it feel as if they were speaking Spanish, while still preserving their tone, cadence, and emotional expression.”
That authenticity was non-negotiable for Coursera. The team had always been cautious about AI-generated content that felt robotic or disconnected. “We’re not just delivering information; we’re creating immersive, instructor-led experiences,” Mustafa explained. “If the emotion is lost, the learning suffers.”
HeyGen’s ability to deliver quality at scale without compromising on emotion or instructor presence was exactly what Coursera had been waiting for.
Experiencing the “magic moment” with HeyGen
Mustafa reflected that what earlier needed large investments and a lot of time now happens with much more agility. “We always thought video translation at scale would require massive investment in production or technology,” he said. “When the team was able to build this in just a few sprints or weeks, we were genuinely surprised by how quickly we could reach this level of scale.”
For instructors, seeing their voice and emotion preserved in translated videos was very impactful. “It felt like them,” Mustafa said. “The translated videos still looked and sounded like our teachers, just in another language.”
The technical achievement was matched by the emotional response. “The magical moment for us was when we saw a dubbed video with perfect lip sync and preserved emotion,” Mustafa recalled. “That’s when we realised this isn’t just a tool, it’s a platform for scaling learning without losing what makes it human.”
HeyGen did not just improve logistics; it also unlocked new creative and operational possibilities. Coursera’s engineers and content creators can now say, “I made this,” not only because they created the educational material, but also because they translated and localised it themselves, without relying on third-party help.
“That was shocking,” Mustafa said. “The video was in a completely different language, but it still carried the context, the emotion, and the instructional clarity of the original. It felt natural.”
Improving watch time and completion rates
Since implementing HeyGen, Coursera has achieved measurable improvements in learner engagement, platform accessibility, and educational outcomes.
Key outcomes:
- 40% increase in video watch time – In regions such as Latin America, localised video content significantly increased total viewing time.
- 25% increase in course completion rates – Students were more likely to complete courses when video content was delivered in their native language.
- Scalable, authentic localisation – Coursera now delivers translated video content across multiple formats and languages without expensive reshoots.
Mustafa encourages other teams to start small. “We began with one video. That was all it took to see the impact,” he said. “Once you experience it, it becomes clear what this can unlock.”
He also emphasised how fast AI technology, and HeyGen in particular, is evolving. “This space moves quickly. If you’re not experimenting now, you’ll be behind later. HeyGen has become a critical part of our infrastructure.”
