Two Seattle-area high school juniors, Pradyu Kandala and Abhay Chebium, frustrated by the lack of resources available to help students study for advanced placement courses, decided to create an AI-based tool called Professor AI. The tool is designed to assist students with study guides, practice tests, quizzes, and course-specific chats using AI models from OpenAI, Claude, Anthropic, and Mistral AI. Unlike other AI tools that have raised concerns about facilitating cheating, Professor AI is focused on helping students overcome obstacles they face when studying for AP courses.
Professor AI aims to address three main obstacles that impede students from effectively studying for AP courses: large class sizes with limited teacher attention, expensive and inaccessible tutors, and the overwhelming nature of self-study. The founders believe that their unique perspective as high school students who are currently enrolled in AP courses gives them an advantage in understanding the needs of their potential customers. They have access to a daily in-person customer base in their fellow AP students, allowing them to quickly iterate and improve their product based on direct feedback.
The startup has already raised $20,000 and is actively seeking additional investors to support their venture. Their monetization strategy is based on a subscription model, with a free plan, a $14/month “scholar” plan, and a $29/month “elite” plan that offers unlimited access to chats, messages, classes, math problems, and more. The founders have also considered their student customer base when pricing their plans, noting that the cost of the scholar plan is equivalent to “one Chipotle” meal.
Kandala and Chebium are currently enrolled in an accelerator program with Antler, a New York-based organization. They have assembled a small team of mostly high school students to work on developing, marketing, and creating content for Professor AI. Despite facing competition in the e-learning space, they believe that their unique perspective, access to potential customers, and ability to iterate quickly will give them an edge in providing valuable support to students preparing for AP courses.
As artificial intelligence continues to play a growing role in education, concerns have arisen about the potential for AI tools to facilitate cheating or undermine the learning process. Seattle Public Schools initially banned ChatGPT, an AI-based tool similar to Professor AI, before ultimately making it accessible to students to ensure that they benefit from the transformative technology. Professor AI is designed to be a tool that enhances student learning rather than providing easy answers, aiming to support students in their educational journey.
