Austin-based AI company hopes to transform the way students learn

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin-based artificial intelligence (AI) education company Cognify wants to transform the way college students learn. 

The company has developed a course-specific AI model for higher education. It allows the AI assistant to guide students while studying complex topics so they can learn effectively. 

“We think of it as a course expert that works hand-in-hand with other course experts like professors and [teaching assistants],” said Paul Truax, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

“When we are training these models –  chapter content, previous exams, professor teaching preferences – we want the professor and the TA to be involved in every step of that experience,” he continued. 

While students can only contact their professors and TAs at certain hours of the day, Truax said students can work with the AI assistant around the clock.

Further, the professor is also brought into the equation by providing the software with course data that helps guide the assistant's output. On the other side, the tool provides professors with insights into what students might be struggling with.

The application is already being used by students at a couple of universities in New York. The company’s innovators hope to soon partner with colleges throughout the Lone Star State. 

“Expansion into Texas is very clear,” Truax said. 

With any emerging technology, there are hiccups. In AI, a hallucination occurs when a model generates misleading or erroneous information. 

“Hallucinations are clearly a big issue in the AI space,” Truax said. “AI, as we know it, is very new. It's still learning, it's still optimizing.”

Truax said Cognify’s data input methods lend itself to fewer hallucinations. 

“Hallucinations are going to happen,” he said. “It's our job to limit them. But it is a sign, interestingly enough, of the model's creativity in the way.”