How a startup is using AI to evaluate handwritten exam papers

Hubballi

With the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the education sector is undergoing a massive transformation. Leading this change from North Karnataka is DesiLLM Private Limited, an ed-tech startup incubated at KLE CTIE in Belagavi. Founded by AI scientist Kawal Arora and Ayurveda physician Dr. Savita Bastawadi, the company is leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) to solve critical pain points for universities, teachers, and students.

News Trail sat down with the founders to discuss their journey, their innovative products—Exam AI Guru and Explainable Guru and why they chose Belagavi as their operational hub.

News Trail: Could you tell us what DesiLLM Private Lim ited is all about and what your core products are?

Kawal Arora: Our basic premise was to explore the applications of Artificial Intelligence, specifically Large Lan guage Models, in the education sector. Currently, we have two flagshiped-tech products: Exam AI Guru and Explainable Guru. Exam AI Guru is designed to evaluate handwritten answer sheets. Universities just need to configure our platform and upload the PDFs of the answer sheets.

Within a day or two, thousands of papers can be evaluated. It doesn't just give marks; it provides detailed, personalized feedback on exactly why marks were deducted, which significantly reduces both time and financial costs. Explainable Guru, on the other hand, empowers subject matter experts who have the knowledge but not the time to create comprehensive courses.

By simply uploading their handwritten notes, PDFs, or audio files, the AI structures the content and generates an entire structured academy, complete with video courses and Q&A sessions.

News Trail: Dr. Savita, you are an Ayurveda doctor, and Kawal, you come from a hard core tech background in the US. How did you transition into the ed-tech space?

Dr. Savita Bastawadi: It all started with a simple need to contribute to the community. When Covid hit, I realized that the profound knowledge of Ayurveda needed to reach more people, and students entering practice needed better expert assistance. We initially built a patient consultation software and showcased it at the World Ayurveda Congress in Dehradun.

The Ayush Ministry noticed the interactive AI-assisted books we built to support that software. They asked us to create AI-driven classroom learning tools to bring quality education to re mote places where expert faculties are scarce. That need for expert assistance eventually evolved into evaluating answer sheets, and our frame work proved adaptable to any discipline, not just Ayurveda.

Kawal Arora: I am a computer science graduate from SJCE Mysore and spent about 15 years in the US as an AI scientist and blockchain expert, including working on machine learning at Tesla back in 2013. When we decided to build this, bringing our distinct expertise together allowed us to bridge the gap between traditional domain knowledge and cutting-edge technology.

News Trail: What is the current status of your products, and what has the initial feedback been like?

Kawal Arora: We are currently in the beta stage and have been running pilot programs for the last couple of months. We have pilots running with KLE Technological University and Rani Channamma University (RCU). The feed back has been overwhelmingly positive

News Trail: Speaking of evaluators, are these platforms entirely automated, or is there human intervention?

Dr. Savita Bastawadi: There is absolutely human intervention. The AI acts as an expert assistant to the evaluators. Human evaluators are overburdened with thousands of sheets; evaluating a 100 mark paper in just three minutes naturally leaves a margin for error. The AI does the heavy lifting, but the human remains in the loop to review and approve, ensuring there is no margin of error.

News Trail: Many tech startups flock to Bengaluru or Hyderabad. Why did you choose Belagavi as your headquarters?

Kawal Arora: There are a few reasons. Firstly, Dr. Savita has strong local roots and support here. Secondly, Belagavi is an education hub. In metros like Bengaluru, startups often face incredibly high attrition rates- you spend six months to a year training a fresh graduate, and just as they become productive, they leave for another company.

By setting up here, we wanted to provide employment to local talent. We have a great team of about ten people who work hard and are highly dedicated, without the typical high-attrition culture of larger IT hubs.

News Trail: You mentioned you are bootstrapped. Have you received any support from the state's startup ecosystem?

Kawal Arora: The support has been tremendous, especially from the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM). Through their 'Beyond Bengaluru' initiative, they showcased our startup, gave us an award, and brought us into the lime light. They also provided us with a free booth at the Ben galuru Tech Summit under the Leap program.

Dr. Savita Bastawadi: Adding to that, we were select ed among the top 18 out of 120 applicants for the Karnataka Acceleration Network (Cohort 2), which is supported by ITBT, KDEM, and Zinnov.