Karnataka launches AI-powered digital assistant for teachers

Shiksha Co-pilot, an AI-powered digital assistant for teacher training in Karnataka to improve learning outcomes and empower teachers.

Shiksha Co-pilot, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered digital assistant for teacher training, a collaboration between Sikshana Foundation and Microsoft Research India, was launched on Friday (October 18, 2024) by Madhu Bangarappa, Minister of School Education and Literacy.

The project aims to improve learning outcomes and empower teachers to create comprehensive, personalised teaching resources and learning experiences grounded in local curriculum, language and context, said the Minister.

“Shiksha Co-pilot is centered around the teachers’ needs by focusing on empowering teachers to generate high-quality personalized content while also reducing the time to do this. It will also supports dynamic curation of engaging teaching resources such as hands on activities, assessments, real-world examples/ applications, short videos and comprehensive lesson plans based on teachers’ inputs. It also provides a chat-bot for teachers for self-learning and interactive content generation,” said a release.

Speaking on the occasion, Madhu Bangarappa said, “Our Chief Minister had directed us to take appropriate steps to provide quality education to government school children using technology. Steps have been taken to train teachers with AI-powered digital assistant with the help of Microsoft Research India. This will increase the teaching ability of teachers and the learning ability of children.”

At the initial stage, action has been taken to train 1,000 teachers across the State. Later, the project will be extended across the State, the Minister said.

Prasanna V.R., Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sikshana Foundation, said, “GenAI has the potential to revolutionise multiple sectors and we feel that a GenAI-based tool in the hand of the teachers will help in vastly improving learning outcomes.”