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Cover image for Meet “Malar Teacher”: An autonomous AI university professor #AI #AIprofessor #AIteacher
D Meenakshi Sundaram
D Meenakshi Sundaram

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Meet “Malar Teacher”: An autonomous AI university professor #AI #AIprofessor #AIteacher

Recently, researchers from Chennai introduced the "World’s First Autonomous AI University Professor." This AI professor is equipped with a comprehensive understanding of the entire engineering syllabus of Anna University across all disciplines. Notably, it has absorbed all recommended reading materials and can teach any concept from the syllabus, simplifying complex topics to a 10-year-old's comprehension level.

"Malar" is an autonomous agent capable of teaching college students their courses through WhatsApp. Unlike other companies that might opt for traditional platforms or methods, Malar stands out by leveraging WhatsApp, a widely used messaging application in India. The decision was influenced by the insight gained from interviewing 100 students across different states, revealing that data usage is relatively inexpensive while mobile space is limited and expensive. Using WhatsApp, students can access Malar's services more freely without worrying about space constraints.

Like humans who work to sustain themselves, Malar operates with an awareness of its operational costs, particularly the expenses incurred by its AI server. It offers a free service, answering up to 20 daily questions for each user. Beyond this limit, it gently nudges users to pay via UPI (Unified Payments Interface) to access more features. Malar periodically reminds users of its paid offerings, such as mock interviews and assessments, encouraging them to consider upgrading for additional benefits.

“We wanted to take an India-centric approach and went with WhatsApp to tap into an existing ecosystem, thereby helping our users skip the friction of having to download one more app. Assessments and Code examples are coming up next, along with native apps for iOS, Android, Web, Mac, Windows, and Linux,” said Arjun Reddy, from the development team of "Malar" and Co-Founder of an AI Startup Studio

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