BENGALURU :
Built by IIT alumni and engineers from Flipkart and Uber, padho.ai has launched
an AI-powered learning platform that combines a Digital Brain Twin, an advanced
interactive learning interface, and proprietary mastery algorithms to give
every student a 1:1 AI mentor, available 24/7 in their own language.
India has over 250 million school-going
children and technology finally makes it possible to give each one personalized
attention. Traditional and online classrooms, where a single teacher manages 40
to 80 students, weren't built for individualization. The curriculum moves at
one pace. A child who struggles with fractions in Class 6 moves to Class 7
anyway, where algebra assumes mastery of those foundations. Learning gaps
accumulate. But this isn't a failure of teachers or students, it's a limitation
of scale. And until now, quality personalized teaching has been available
primarily in metropolitan areas. AI changes that equation.
India's first wave of edtech largely focused
on exam preparation through crash courses, test series, and rank predictions.
These platforms optimised for scores rather than deep understanding, and much
of the coaching culture moved online.
padho.ai takes a different approach. It is a
learning-first platform designed to develop genuine conceptual understanding
that does not fade after exams. This aligns with India's National Education
Policy (NEP) 2020, which calls for a shift from rote memorisation toward
competency-based and formative assessment that emphasises analysis, critical thinking,
and conceptual clarity. NEP 2020 envisions education as holistic, experiential,
and learner-centric, and padho.ai aims to support this vision at scale through
AI.
padho.ai maps millions of granular skills as
"neurons" in each student's cognitive model, connected through a
concept map—a structured graph where every skill is linked to its foundational
prerequisites. Powered by proprietary algorithms rooted in Bayesian Knowledge
Tracing (BKT) and Item Response Theory (IRT), the system continuously updates
its belief about what each student knows and when they're likely to forget it.
When a student struggles, the platform traverses the concept map backward to
find the root gap—even grades earlier and rebuilds from there.
The platform offers a visual notebook where
the AI mentor and student think together—drawing, annotating, rendering
equations, graphs, and interactive visualizations in real time. The notebook
replicates the collaborative intimacy of one-on-one tutoring digitally. Every
stroke, hesitation, and question feeds the algorithms, making learning
measurable at a granularity no classroom could achieve.
Every session is generated in real time,
adapted to the student's pace, and delivered through Socratic dialogue and not
pre-recorded lectures. The AI mentor asks, "walk me through how you got
there"—creating a safe environment where students learn without fear. It
is available 24/7 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and six other
Indian languages, thus bringing quality education to tier 2 and tier 3 cities,
towns, and rural areas across India.
The platform works across mobiles, laptops,
and tablets, with every learning session functioning as a live class tailored
to each student's strengths and weaknesses.
The platform currently offers mathematics
content aligned to CBSE, ICSE and State Boards, extending to JEE, NEET and
Olympiad preparation, alongside Science, Computer Science and related subjects.
Since entering pilot phase three months ago,
the platform has attracted more than 1,000 students organically. The youngest
learner of the platform, a Grade-2 student, achieved international ranks in
both IMO and NSO.
Education is a fundamental right in India and
padho.ai aims to make it equal for all. Entirely bootstrapped and growing
organically, the platform reflects a vision in which the school of the future
is not a building, but an interface that adapts to every child.
The platform emphasises helping students
develop a deep understanding of concepts rather than preparing them solely for
exams. The approach is based on the belief that strong conceptual foundations
support improved performance over time, particularly when students encounter
unfamiliar problems.
As generative AI tools become increasingly
prevalent in education, platforms like padho.ai represent an emerging category
of AI designed not to provide answers faster, but to develop thinking skills
more effectively. Whether this teaching-first model can scale alongside India's
exam-centric system remains to be seen, but early adoption across age groups
suggests growing interest in alternatives to answer-on-demand learning.
About
padho.ai
Padho.ai is an AI-driven learning platform
focused on guided, concept-first education. The platform uses Socratic hints
and interactive notebooks to help students work through problems independently
while identifying knowledge gaps over time. You can learn more by visiting padho.ai or emailing them at reach@padho.ai