Why ChatGPT and Perplexity Aren’t Enough for Indian Students

There’s something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time, and today finally feels like the right moment to say it out loud.

We’ve all talked about the problems in India’s education system — the inefficiencies, the outdated methods, the backwardness in classrooms, and the limited access to good technology. But we rarely dig into what this actually means for the average student.

Even today, students in India are required to maintain multiple paper notebooks — one for formulas, one for theory, another for rough practice. They have to memorize everything, write it all down again in exams, and even solve practice problems on paper. If they forget or lose their notes, they’re stuck. There’s no easy way to access what they’ve written — no search, no cloud, no backup.

It’s painfully inefficient.

You can’t scale your learning if your knowledge is locked inside physical notebooks. If you don’t carry them with you, you can’t review. If they get lost, it’s gone. You can’t build upon your knowledge unless you have access to it, anytime, anywhere.

That’s why tools like Notion or Obsidian started making sense to me. They give you digital access, searchable notes, and freedom from physical boundaries. But even those tools are only pieces of the puzzle. They’re not built specifically for students. They don’t understand your syllabus, your learning style, or your goals.

There’s no single ecosystem — no Apple-like end-to-end experience for learning.

Apple’s strength is that it controls the entire experience: from cables to laptops to cloud. Education in India needs something similar. Students are storing some notes in Notion, some in their heads, some on paper. They don’t remember where anything is. This is chaos — and it’s killing productivity.

For those of you who don’t know, let me tell you a story.

Back in the early days of computing, there were no personal computers. Just giant machines that filled entire rooms. They were complex, intimidating, and only experts could operate them. You had to remember a series of strange commands just to make something run. The interface was so terrifying that a regular person wouldn’t even think about using a computer.

Then came Steve Jobs.

He didn’t just want to build another computer. He had a vision—a world where everyone could use a computer, not just engineers. He created the first personal computer with a TV-like screen where you could see what you were doing. You didn’t need to memorize commands anymore. You could just click.

But here’s the best part: Steve Jobs insisted that the computer should say “Hello.” Why? Because he wanted people to feel like the computer was friendly, approachable—not something scary or out of reach. That small “hello” was a powerful symbol. It meant: This machine is for you. You belong here.

And that’s exactly the kind of vision I believe we need. The same curiosity. The same creativity. The same bold thinking. That’s what’s missing—and that’s where AI can step in.

Why This Hits Harder in India

India, honestly, needs this kind of solution more than most countries.

Learning here is extremely inefficient:

• Outdated curriculums.

• Students spending hours writing instead of understanding.

• Zero exposure to digital tools in many regions.

• Faculty that is undertrained in modern, industrial skills.

Students aren’t unmotivated — they’re underserved. They’re doing what they’re told: copying notes, attending coaching, preparing for exams. But they’re not learning how to think, how to build, how to work in real-world environments.

That’s why India has so many educated yet unemployable graduates. They don't know how to work, even if they know what to study. It’s not their fault — the system never equipped them for this world.

And that’s exactly the gap I want to solve.

Why ChatGPT, Perplexity & Merlin Fall Short

You might wonder — isn't ChatGPT, Perplexity, or even tools like Merlin already good enough?

Yes — they’re powerful. But they are general-purpose tools. They're built for everyone — not just for students, and definitely not specifically for Indian students.

If you ask ChatGPT to derive a math formula, but don’t tell it your background or syllabus, it might give you an answer that’s technically right, but irrelevant. It might use methods you haven’t studied yet. It assumes too much or too little — because it doesn’t know you.

So, unless every student becomes a prompt engineering expert (which is unrealistic), these tools will always fall short.

That’s why apps like v0.dev, Vercel, or Lovable.dev work — because they act like AI wrappers. They take your raw input, shape it with the right prompts, and send it to ChatGPT to return a more relevant answer. These wrappers act as translators between you and the AI.

What Indian Students Really Need

What we need isn’t another app.

We need an ecosystem.
We need a personal mentor — a 24/7 guide that:

• Knows your syllabus.

• Understands your goals.

• Tracks your progress.

• Answers your doubts.

• Helps you take notes.

• Organizes your tasks.

• Prepares you for exams.

• Teaches you industry-level skills.

• And does all of this automatically.

The AI shouldn’t just be smart — it should be tailored. Personalized. Human-like. Accessible even to the weakest student in the classroom. Because those are the ones who need it the most.

If we can build that — a tool that combines the intelligence of ChatGPT with the structure of Notion, the clarity of a mentor, and the empathy of a human teacher — then we can truly revolutionize learning in India.

The Vision

The idea is simple, but powerful:

Make AI so accessible that even the student at the very bottom of the pyramid can rise to the top.

Not by memorizing. Not by working harder.
But by working smarter. With the right guide. With the right tools.

That’s what I want to build.
And that’s what I’ll talk about in the next blog.

Cheers