During the height of the pandemic, India saw an ed-tech boom, with classes held digitally and teachers hosting sessions for free. A paid offering was available for students who wanted additional features such as homework and tests. However, as enrollment in these online classes grew, the cost of membership also substantially increased, creating a divide and cutting off children from less-privileged backgrounds from accessing education.
However, a Delhi-based startup led by a data scientist is thinking differently to tackle this problem. It is introducing digitally created humans—virtual teachers or artificial intelligence-generated avatars—that will teach students anytime, testing a new approach to online education without human teachers.
This experiment sets the startup apart in the ed-tech space while reducing the cost of hiring star teachers, who often receive hefty paychecks from ed-tech companies, driving up coaching membership costs borne by parents.
Started by Mridu Andotra earlier this year, Genius Mentor, a SaaS-based platform, aims to disrupt traditional educational models by offering quality education at affordable prices through generative artificial intelligence technology and AI avatars, which act as subject-specific teachers.
