The Butterfly Struggle: Why Students Must Think Before They Ask AI

Dear Friends,

My father bought a second-hand kid’s cycle during my 6th standard after a lot of persuasion. This cycle was almost in a non-operational condition. We had to repair it and make it run. However, the joy of riding it was uncountable. When I was in 8th standard, again after a lot of negotiation, I inherited my father’s Atlas cycle (1964 model), which I used till my post-graduation. After working for two years, I bought my first second-hand two-wheeler, which I used for another two years before it was abandoned. The initial struggle to get that second-hand bicycle left a deep impression on my mind — so much so that I abandoned my first Maruti 800 (non-AC and non-metallic version) only after 15 years, when it couldn’t move an inch.

What’s the point I’m trying to make? There’s a new issue cropping up in education — called “Metacognitive Laziness.”

An experimental study found that learners using ChatGPT performed better in essay score improvement but did not significantly improve in knowledge gain, transfer, or application. Another experiment showed that when a student struggles through Google searches to find results, their application knowledge tends to be higher compared to when they use ChatGPT and get quick answers.

Recently, I came across a story that perfectly connects to this idea of Metacognitive Laziness.

A student once asked his teacher, “I have read so many books but remember very little. What is the use of reading then?”The teacher didn’t answer. A few days later, he gave the student an old, dirty strainer and said, “Bring me some water from the river.” A strainer is a wire-mesh kitchen filter used to separate liquids from fine solids.

The student tried many times, but the water kept slipping through the holes. Tired and upset, he said, “It’s useless. I couldn’t bring any water.”

The teacher smiled and said, “Look at the strainer.” It was now clean and shining.

“That’s what reading does,” said the teacher. “Even if you don’t remember everything, it still cleans your mind and fills it with new thoughts.”

The point I’m trying to make is that while using GenAI is important for productivity in the working world, we shouldn’t outsource our brain work—especially for students below 20 years of age—to AI. Metacognitive laziness kills our natural application knowledge and makes us handicapped in thinking.

Recently, I experimented with this in one of my classes. When I asked students to do an assignment and allowed GPT usage, many completed it with ease, but the responses were not unique — they were uniform and perfect. Assignments, especially case analyses, should involve creativity and originality.

However, after a few days, I conducted another in-class test with the same set of students using a similar case, but this time in a closed environment without GPT access. I asked them to make their own assumptions and apply their natural understanding of the problem, life experiences, and logic to respond. They had full freedom in defining assumptions and justifying their responses.

Interestingly, in this social experiment, we found that over 35% gave unusual and intuitive responses, and 10% outperformed with their natural analytical flow. About 50% struggled to respond perfectly, but they experienced the struggle of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.

If we repeat this model with those 50% a few more times, I’m confident their responses will align with the original goal of case analysis.

Future education is all about StoEduTain — (Storytelling + Education + Entertainment). If that purpose is missed, the educational train is derailed. https://www.linkedin.com/company/stodutain/about/

– Ravi Saripalle

From Weekly Boy to Falcon Flight: Learning Resilience

Dear Parents

Today morning, while I was walking, I saw a boy around 15 years old dropping milk packets door to door. It was raining and he was totally drenched. I’m sure he gets ready for school after this morning job. I am truly admired by his commitment and striving nature.

During our days, there was a concept of a “weekly boy.” The idea was that every week, a poor or unaffordable boy (mostly male, as I observed) would go to 7 different sponsored houses for lunch—one per day—and this process would repeat every week. Many times, they couldn’t afford dinner. A few of my own relatives went through this process and still completed their education.

Look at the ambiguity in their lives. You couldn’t demand what you wanted. You couldn’t expect timely lunch. You couldn’t expect respect—it all depended on the emotional state of the house on that particular day. You couldn’t even expect a full lunch during month-ends, as sponsors themselves would struggle when rations ran low. You had to drop your ego completely. Many times, sponsors demanded chores in return, and you had to fulfill those obligations regardless of your pain or pleasure. You visited your parents once in a season if you were away from your village. You studied under dim lights if you were lucky—but mostly under kerosene lamps.

In contrast, today’s overprotective parents track their children minute to minute. In spite of this, a few children still make mistakes and depend on parents for everything.

I still remember during my college days, I traveled alone over 1200 km one way—with just one small bag, no mobile phone, less than ₹500 in my pocket, no reservation, changing three trains, standing next to the bathroom in unreserved compartments—just to apply to a few universities across four different states. That pain is imprinted deep in my memory and comes out in different forms when dealing with my students and children. I become emotional when someone misuses their God-given gifts or misuses their opportunities.

In nature, a few are gifted with all three: resources, intelligence, and support. But more than 80% of people don’t get even one of these three. If someone has all three but doesn’t leverage them, it is their loss.

We need to learn from Nature. Just opposite our flat, pigeons live in one corner of a balcony. The owners recently installed a net to prevent them. Still, around 6 o'clock every morning, two pigeons come and try to break in—continuously—for 1 to 2 hours. I’m not sure of the reason, but uncertainty defines the lives of many species.

Look at the Falcon story. This was recently recorded and reported. A female falcon was equipped with a GPS tracker during her journey from South Africa to Finland. She covered approximately 230 km per day, flying in a straight line across African lands until she reached the desert in the north. She then followed the path of the Nile River over Sudan and Egypt, avoiding the Mediterranean Sea. Instead, she crossed Syria and Lebanon and also steered clear of the Black Sea—because if she got thirsty, she wouldn’t be able to drink from it. She continued flying in a straight line and reached Finland after 42 days. This is life for many species.

Let us pray to God for giving us this beautiful life without such stressful complications. Be happy with what we have received in this life. We are all short-lived. Don’t chase after artificial possessions that are temporary—be it beauty, money, position, or even family. At any moment, anything can be taken away.

One of our relatives met with a fatal accident and lost her beautiful face to burns. I’ve witnessed families who were once filthy rich lose everything in business and now struggle for daily bread. I saw CXOs attending calls till evening, and due to a trivial issue beyond their control, being asked to leave the same day. Years of 24x7 commitment were washed away like a flash flood, sweeping away their lavish cars and the foundations of their apartments.

Don’t forget to plan the unplanned!

– Ravi Saripalle

Jobs Then and Now: A Postcard from the Past, A Prompt for the Future

Dear Friends

I am not sure if you experienced this or not, every week we used to wait for Employment News, the flagship journal for job seekers, published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It started in 1976, used to be referred to as Employment News in English and Hindi (Rozgar Samachar).

I come from a small town named Vizianagaram. It has a fort built by the Maharajas. Besides, there used to be a Pani Puri Chat shop. It was an interesting business model. This guy, named Nagabhushanam, used to paste all employment-related information on a wall. It was not just posters pasted, but he used to run like a mini staffing agency (printed applications, postal cover with target address pasted, photocopy facility, and other key ready-reckoners for a particular job application). All these unemployed aspirants used to apply through the corner and also have a pani puri!! A perfect blend of a business model.

While I am talking about the Pani Puri cart, it reminds me of an Insta post yesterday by Startup Pedia — “At just 22, Nandan turned a ‘weekend cart’ into a ₹3–4 lakh/month streetwear brand in Bangalore. Untamed Streetwear isn’t just clothes — it’s his vision, his vibe, and a growing cultural hub for streetwear lovers.” It is a cart-based fashion startup bringing bold, affordable streetwear to Indian streets.

Anyway, let me come to the topic of today’s story. I used to follow the India Post (those days it was the Indian Postal Service) Assistants. Now they are calling it Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS). It was purely based on 10th Class merit. The expected cutoff is 84 to 95% in the 10th class. I was eligible for this; I used to contemplate applying for this. When IT recruitments began, we used to closely monitor them in the national newspapers; of course, there were a few. They used to run mostly by referral, or you needed to follow them in Bangalore/Hyderabad. Of course, we needed to stand in a long queue to hand over our resume — only to the “Security Guard” during weekends. In rare instances, we used to mail to HRs. Employment News used to be limited to jobs like Computer Operator, Computer Operator (Steno), Computer Operator (Accounts), etc.

From that phase, we transitioned to AI-driven Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). They intelligently screen resumes, match candidates to jobs, reduce bias, and improve the overall candidate experience. In this chaos, yesterday I saw an interesting hiring post on LinkedIn. I am sharing an excerpt of it.

“Meet my all-star team. Time to level up with some fresh talent – because even AIs need humans to hit the ‘deploy’ button without existential dread.

Shoutout to the current squad: ChatGPT: Chief Content Officer,Perplexity: Chief Research Officer,Gamma: Deck Designer,Midjourney: Creative Director,Canva: Carousel Designer,

Veo: Video Editor,Veo 3: Video Maker,Genspark AI: Prompt Engineer,EasyGen: Copywriter.

Now, hiring for open roles: Chief Product Officer (CPO), Chief Software Architect, Coding Engineers: Code like a boss, debug like a therapist, Agentic Expert, Integration Experts. My biggest HR challenge? Keeping these agents from unionizing over server space… and now convincing humans we’re not replacing them.”

Are you ready for the transition?

Ravi Saripalle

From Chai to ChatGPT: The Evolution of Shared Knowledge

Dear Friends

During our childhood days, the most engaging places in the morning or evening times would be the Tea Stalls and Barber shops. People often visit them not just to sip the tea but to listen and participate in the most engaging conversations. They would range from politics to business. Similarly, barber shops used to be hook centres for entertaining discussions, street gossip, and many more!! In these Tea stalls, there would be 3-4 people to make the discussion active. The rest of the visitors keep an eye and lend an ear to them, while scanning through the newspaper. They will not have the ability to overpower those 3-4 debaters, but give them thumbs up with their nods. I hope many of you might have experienced this.

Did you see any such Tea shops and Barber shops now? Did you observe that these Tea shops have transformed into Coffee Clubs? You can observe a few customers silently sitting in one corner of these shops and browsing through their mobiles. Similarly, these Barber shops are transitioning to Salons, in some advanced locations, to unisex salons! What do you observe there? Again, customers are hooked to screens, scrolling through a few reels. Those engaging conversations have become old-fashioned!

In fact, in those days, especially in rural villages, these shops also acted as social cops! They used to enquire like a friendly interrogation — Where are you coming from? Whose house are you visiting? What are you doing? How much salary are you earning and so on? In fact, whenever we used to go to our grandfather’s village, we used to encounter these questions. Surprisingly, by the time we reach our grandfather’s village (we need to cross 2-3 villages on foot or by bullock cart), these cycle peddlers used to share with our grandfather that we were visiting! This is the kind of neural network that runs there. They used to be much more powerful than AI-based artificial neural networks (ANNs) or Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs).

Why am I bringing this conversation up? A recent study (Semrush, June 2025) analysed 150,000 citations across AI outputs from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others — using 5,000+ diverse keywords. Can you guess who is supplying the most information to these LLMs like ChatGPT? You might think Google or Facebook, right? No, surprisingly, 40.1% of citations are coming from Reddit. Next, with Wikipedia 26.3%, YouTube 23.5%, Google 23.3%, StackOverflow 18.7%, etc. As per Steve Nouri, Reddit is now the #1 training source for AI. Reddit isn’t just a forum anymore — it’s the backbone of generative AI.

What does this mean for Builders, Brands, and Founders? Conversations > Content! Authority is being redefined (Not by domain age). A 20,000-word blog post has no significance, but Active Reddit threads, Engaging X posts, and YouTube explainer videos make all the difference. Trust is being crowdsourced. Community is your new homepage!!
 

Will there be any impact on the UX strategy of product and services companies? Yes, definitely! When we were studying RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems), information was arranged in rows and columns! For many years, storing an image in the database was a luxury until object databases came. Today, your PDF document, your reel, or your picture on a webpage are all considered as database feeds for your LLMs.

Did you observe any other changes?

Ravi Saripalle

The Shifting Faces of Friendship and Enmity: Ancient Lessons for Modern World

Dear Friends

In recent times, the global discourse on geopolitics has shown us that international relations are fluid—what may seem like rivalry today could become collaboration tomorrow.

I know a family with 3 children. One of them was brilliant, one was Medicare, and another was hopeless. Parents did not have any hopes for the hopeless boy. Time grew, but there was no change in the attitude. At the end of life, the first two who were well settled were unable to extend help to their parents. They deserted them. However, the one who they were ignorant came to the rescue in the end. Now, do we determine who is right? The first impressions in childhood or the last impressions in late life? This is a complex situation, right?

Understanding one biological family with its own connecting genes becomes tough, what to speak of countries and their national priorities? Building a long-term policy is always tough. We may not be able to comment on such subtle issues. We see a few statements aired on the news channels and form an opinion on the leaders. However, if a 195-column matrix report (number of countries on the earth vs one country mapping) is before the leader, how can one make an easy decision? Any decision will have a huge impact. Their job is not that easy. Let us respect. They make decisions based on current National priorities.

In history, we saw the Chandragupta Maurya & Seleucus Nicator episode. Chandragupta defeated Seleucus’s forces, and later, Seleucus gave his daughter in marriage to Chandragupta. In modern history, we have umpteen examples of such conflicts between Nations, especially during world wars and post-war wars. A friend at a time became a foe later, and vice versa.

What is the right solution at any point? Follow Scriptures! They teach us what Dharma and Adharma are. The Mahabharata is one such great scripture that explains these complex relationships.

Karna and Pandavas - Own Brothers- different sides of the war

Arjuna and Drona- Best Teacher-Student Relationship- different sides of the war

Dronacharya and Drupad - In their youth, friends – Later bitter rivalry- different sides of the war

Bhisma- Great-grandfather for both the Pandavas and Kauravas. Blessed Yudhishthira, wishing for his victory-- different sides of the war.

Yuyutsu, the half-brother of the Kauravas, was raised among the Kauravas. Before the war began, Yuyutsu openly defected to the Pandava side, choosing to support righteousness over his family of origin.

Ashwatthama grew up with the Pandavas, who were his father’s students- different sides of the war

Śalya was Nakula and Sahadeva’s maternal uncle, by blood. Yet, through Duryodhana’s cunning hospitality trick, he was bound to support the Kauravas.

Śakuni & Kauravas-At one level, he was their “uncle” and advisor, seemingly protective of Duryodhana. But in truth, his hatred of Hastināpura made him orchestrate their downfall.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra & Pāṇḍavas: As their uncle and king, he often expressed affection. Yet his blind love for Duryodhana made him do injustices against them. However, during the old age (post-Kauravas period), Pandavas took care of him.

Karna & Bhīṣma: Bhishma was refusing to fight alongside him, but within the same army.

Vidura & Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Vidura was Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s half-brother. Yet, it makes him feel like an outsider in the same family.

Jayadratha & Pāṇḍavas: Jayadratha married Duryodhana’s sister. Earlier, in spite of attempting to abduct Draupadī, the Pāṇḍavas spared his life. Later, he became the cause of Abhimanyu’s death.

Kṛpācārya & Pāṇḍavas: As a guru, he instructed them with affection. But bound by his loyalty to Hastināpura-- different sides of the war

What is the right solution? Depend on the Lord and scriptural application, whosoever we believe, regardless of religion. In the Pandavas' case, they were dependent on Lord Krishna and the teachings of the Bhagavat Gita. We need to pray that Leaders get that intelligence, and after that, just believe in their actions, as we don’t know what is right and wrong!!

Ravi Saripalle

Four Types of Professionals: Where Do You Belong?

 Dear Friends,

Recently, the photo of Alejandro Navarro went viral. He was a devoted math teacher from Texas. He rushed to the hospital with a severe health crisis. He brought his laptop and charger along with him. From his ICU bed, he spent his last moments grading papers—making sure every student’s work was completed and no one was left behind. The next day, he passed away.

However, many such dedicated teachers go unnoticed. Having said that, a few teachers spoil the spirit with their ill attitude. Often, teachers are shown as comedians in many movies, and that impression is carried among some students. Generally, the true value of a teacher is unnoticed as the student encounters teachers during childhood/adolescence. During this age, they wouldn’t have major responsibilities. Often this phase is carried away with fun and ambiguity, and they do not recognize the value of the teacher. By the time the student realizes this fact, there are no teachers mapped. In the process, many times, the teacher also loses purpose and motivation due to this non-recognition by their students. On top of this, in current times, the teaching profession has become commercialized. Revenue generation and recognition have become core motivational factors.

Where are those great teachers like Sujit Chattopadhyay? He is fondly known as the Two Rupees Teacher. In 2021, he was awarded the Padma Shri. After retiring in 2004 at the age of 60, he was concerned about how he would spend his days in retirement. Three girls, who had travelled 20 kilometres barefoot, arrived at his house one day, requesting him to teach them. This humble beginning has now grown to enrol more than 350 children.

Being a teacher myself, sometimes I feel I am also trapped. I hail from a teacher’s family. My great-grandfather and maternal grandfather were Sanskrit teachers. My paternal grandfather, my parents, and my sister were teachers. Later, my spouse left an IT job and became a teacher. With this background, I also quit my IT job in 2010 and joined teaching with a specific purpose in mind. I was able to spend almost a year without salary. The fire in my belly was intact. However, when funds started drying, I could not sustain that fire and committed to a day job for salary—of course in teaching. Having said that, I did not lose the purpose, but it got diluted with different professional and family responsibilities and was often tagged with certain limitations. In those circumstances, you are no more labelled as a Mission Teacher.

That was the time I realized the difference between Drifter Teacher, Mechanic Teacher, Dreamer Teacher, and Mission Teacher. Let me give the definitions.

• X–Axis (horizontal): Inspiration/Dedication (Left = Low Dedication, Right = High Dedication).
• Y–Axis (vertical): Purpose (Bottom = Low, Top = High).

Then the 2x2 matrix would be:

• Bottom Left (Low Purpose, Low Dedication): Drifter Teacher (neither committed nor purposeful).
• Bottom Right (Low Purpose, High Dedication): Mechanic Teacher (hardworking but without deeper vision).
• Top Left (High Purpose, Low Dedication): Dreamer Teacher (inspired but inconsistent in practice).
• Top Right (High Purpose, High Dedication): Mission Teacher (ideal blend, teaching with meaning and effort, without expecting any results—name, fame, money).

When we aspire for growth in terms of recognition, salary, and promotion, we can never be called Mission Teachers. They should be by-products. A few reach this level. My maternal grandfather was a Mission Teacher. However, I rate the rest of my family members to the level of Mechanical Teachers. Given good health and minimum self-sustenance, I aspire to attempt once again and retest in the future. Of course, we are all bound to fulfil certain family responsibilities. Otherwise, the same world would categorize them as Mission Teachers but irresponsible towards family.

It is not just limited to teaching; the same matrix is applicable to every profession. Honestly, which category do you belong to? Self-reflect.

Ravi Saripalle

Hallucination is Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: Lessons for AI and Humanity

Dear Friends,

Recently, I was watching a documentary on Makoko AKA, Lagos, also known as the Venice of Nigeria—the largest floating slum in Africa. This is a floating village. Long back, we visited Kerala, stayed in a floating cottage and boathouse on the Kochi backwaters, and earlier at the Alleppey backwaters. The purpose there was to recreate in nature. However, the Makoko scene is completely different. I was astonished and amused to witness their life on the waters. It is surrounded by dirty sewage water. People commute using boats, and a few children were swimming in those waters. Constant fear (natural calamities, epidemics, and neighborhood issues) haunts people. In contrast, just opposite this slum, we can witness Lagos city—the largest urban agglomeration in Nigeria and one of the fastest-growing megacities in the world.

Now, what is today’s story? Let’s contemplate the learning & thinking process of kids who grow up in rich conditions versus slum conditions. If you ask them the same question: What are you most scared of?

• A rich kid may respond (of course, not all of them): “Monsters under the bed, using public transportation, or losing power & internet.”

• A slum kid may respond (again, not all): “Demolition of their temporary shelter by the government, floods, hunger, or fights in the neighborhood.”

If a rich kid sees the slum kid’s answer, it causes amusement, and vice versa. There is nothing wrong or right here.

However, there is a huge uproar when it comes to AI responding to a few questions differently. After all, an AI model is like a child. What you feed, how you train—it comes out. Having said that, it is causing huge financial damage to the AI model owners. A human learns year after year and makes decisions. If it goes wrong, we accept it and say “human error.” But we are not giving sufficient time to AI to learn. If it says something wrong, we immediately call it a hallucination. (Dictionary meaning: a sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch that a person believes to be real but is not real.)

A Vectara study found that even the best models still make things up at least 0.7% of the time. According to allaboutai.com, these “hallucinations” caused $67.4 billion in damages globally in 2024.

We all need to understand: Hallucination is NOT A BUG. It is A FEATURE. That is how AI understands and responds—like any average human being’s response. Let’s not misunderstand it. Future jobs will include AI Human Reviewers—teaching AI specific lessons on domains and issues, and reducing hallucination. Later, AI Tutors will comprehensively teach humans! This is going to be a new cycle.

Today, The Hindu published an editorial: “Set the guardrails for AI use in courtrooms.” This was in the context of a recent case where an AI transcription tool repeatedly transcribed the claimant’s name, “Noel”, as “no.” If AI cites a paper—Journal of Applied AI, Vol. 12, 2019—that does not exist, we need to help AI understand the issue. If you ask AI, “What’s the capital of Brazil?” and it confidently replies “Buenos Aires” instead of Brasília, we need to teach the AI. These hallucination scenarios are to be patiently resolved with AI.

In the 1990s, we hired many manual testers to catch software bugs. Over time, manual testers started vanishing, and the era of test automation began. Now the same manual tester is coming back in a new avatar called an AI Human Reviewer. Their job is to catch and correct hallucinations before they reach users.

Human judgment and AI hallucination will always exist. They change from time to time, context to context, data to data, and many more factors. When we accept human judgment in the form of human error or rational decision, the same should apply to hallucination as well. Let’s accept it.

The ultimate solution forever would be to develop AI systems with a Human in the Loop. Fully autonomous systems are not practical for humanity (especially in the Indian context). And a human race without technological aid would also push us back to a primitive state. Both radical scenarios are not good for society.

Wishing policy makers balance this act—especially in the Indian context—with 56 million rich (>30L), 432 million middle class (5L to 30L), 732 million aspirers (1.25L to 5L), and 196 million destitutes (<1.25L) (2021 data). A Bharat AI Policy should cater to these levels, and AI training data should represent these four classes.

Ravi Saripalle

The ₹-Cost of the Tilted Head— How Neck Pain Leads to GDP Pain?

Dear Friends,

I asked Siddharth to draw a concept for today’s article. In our casual conversation, he was talking about a particular artist who drew various people’s pictures across the world while they were doing their respective chores (walking, eating, chatting, shopping, etc.), watching a mobile in their hand. Later, he chopped their hands in his pictures and grouped them on one canvas, showing how their heads tilted down irrespective of their chore.

This tilting is not just a head pose/neck-down issue, but it is becoming an economic pose-down! Let me dive deep into the statistics. However, a few numbers are assumptions. I am drawing some derivations for discussion purposes, but a few may not be true figures.

Explodingtopics.com

published a few stats recently on this issue. Globally, in 2025, people spend approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes of screen time per day. Daily screen time has increased by over 30 minutes per day since 2013. Almost half (49%) of 0- to 2-year-olds interact with smartphones. Gen Z averages around 9 hours of screen time per day. Here is the rate of change between average screen time in 2023 and 2024 for select countries: India’s change in screen time increased by 22 minutes in one year itself.

I was doing simple math on how it is an economic issue. Here are my assumptions and numbers.

Total smartphone users — 71,20,00,000 (people) — Estimated India smartphone users (~2025).

Employed ratio: 53% — Assume the share of the population that is employed.

Reels watchers’ fraction: 25% — Assumed share of people watching 1 h/day.

Average hourly wage: 101.50 (₹/hour).

However, when they watch these reels, they get some entertainment as well. Assume 20% of that 1 hour is the value credited back. This is a productivity gain value.

However, most of them watch at night (assuming 30%), and they get fatigued the next day, which impacts productivity the next day. I took fatigue hours as 0.16 (hours/day). This is productivity loss.

It also strains the eye. Assuming 18% of them need an extra eye exam, and the eye exam costs 500 rupees. This is an economic cost.

However, platform owners like Insta/Facebook get some ad revenue. Assume Ad Revenue Per Hour: 0.29 (₹/hour) — gross monetization per hour of social attention. Having said that, assume the creator’s share of ad revenue is 25% (share).

However, assume 50% of non-employed watchers are students; for them, it is learning loss and future opportunity loss, hence it is future economic loss. It means assuming a displacement rate of study time of 1 hour/day.

In between, I took many more assumptions, a lot of math, and finally arrived at a number. Of course, I am not that great in math accuracy (assume a few mathematical errors and approximations); however, it is a whopping figure!! I am showing here how big the loss is!!

Employed net cost/productivity loss/opportunity cost (annual): ₹3.669 trillion ≈ ₹3,66,869 crore;

Students’ human-capital loss (annual-equivalent): ₹0.146 trillion ≈ ₹14,586 crore;

Total annual impact (Employed + Students): ₹3.815 trillion (≈ 3.815 lakh crore)!! This is an economic loss of 1 hour of waste utilization without any learning from the content.

Mind-boggling number!! ~96% of the loss is workplace productivity/health; ~4% comes from students’ future-earnings erosion (annualized).

What is it for companies? What is it for schools and parents?

Company: At this scale, even a 1% productivity improvement against the habit is worth ~₹36,800 crore/yr nationally.

Parents: Replace 15 minutes/day of your ward’s time.

Platforms/Regulators: Expand bedtime prompts and session-length frictions; boost rev-share for positive learning content.

Ravi Saripalle

Water Is the Real Currency: Time for a Virtual Water Economy

Dear Friends,

 

I am not a researcher or an economist, but as an inspiration, we published a concept and idea on “The Need for a Virtual Water Currency and Virtual Water Trading System across all Countries” in the context of industrial products. This concept was first published in the Water Supply Journal in 2015 (https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2015.047) and later, in a more mature and specific form, in the Water Policy Journal in 2022 (https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2022.285).

 

You might be wondering why I am sharing this now. The relevance of a Virtual Water Currency and Virtual Water Trading System is more visible today than ever before, particularly in the context of current geopolitics. Whether it is orange or oil, importing or exporting any product involves water usage — from the mining or cultivation stage of raw materials to the final product on the shelf. The total water consumed by a product or service is called virtual water.

 

To give perspective: the virtual water content of rice ranges from 2,500–3,000 liters per kilogram; a single cup of coffee requires 130–140 liters; one pair of jeans, 7,500–10,000 liters; and a smartphone, about 12,000 liters. In industry, the water footprint is often measured per dollar of value added — meaning, “How much water does an economy use to produce USD 1 worth of industrial goods or services?” Globally, this averages 80 liters per USD of industrial product, ~100 L/USD in the U.S., and only 20–25 L/USD in India. If these numbers are incorrect, my sincere apologies due to my limited data access. I am trying to present a context rather than numbers.

 

In our paper, we proposed introducing a Virtual Water Currency alongside existing currencies like the dollar or rupee. Such a currency could help drive sustainability discussions and guide decisions so that we can pass on a livable planet to the next generation. In our second paper, we recommended creating an international Virtual Water–Based Trading System using blockchain to ensure transparency and principle-driven trade.

 

For example, if a smartphone has 100 components sourced from different countries, the assembler could check (via an immutable blockchain record) which components have the lowest virtual water content and highest quality, and choose to import those. Over time, this would build Virtual Water Consciousness among countries and manufacturers.

 

A simple policy or protocol can be defined based on historical evidence and future predictions — but I understand it’s not easy to design such rules, whether for a country, an organization, or an individual. I deliberately put the word “a” in quotes earlier because even a single letter in policy language can change the law and future interpretation. This is why governments and think tanks must be given time and respect for the complexity of their work, instead of facing emotional criticism.

 

To illustrate, you may have seen the Times of India article yesterday — “No income tax for son who sold late mother’s flat for ₹1.45 crore to buy seven houses; how a minor language error helped him”. Before the 2014 amendment, Section 54’s phrase “a residential house” was interpreted by courts to allow long-term capital gains exemption for multiple residential properties, not just one. In this case, the Bombay High Court ruled that his purchase of seven row houses in 1995 qualified for full exemption, as the restriction to “one” house applied only prospectively from AY 2015–16. This demonstrates how a single word in tax law — “a” or “one” — can significantly affect rights.

 

Similarly, we must think about virtual water in our import/export and production decisions, not based on emotions, but on the physical limits of Mother Earth. Readily accessible freshwater for humans, animals, and ecosystems is less than 1% of all freshwater — roughly 0.007% of Earth’s total water. Already, 2 billion people live in water-stressed areas.

 

What is your Virtual Water Consciousness?

 

Ravi Saripalle

You might have heard of Sun Bath, Steam Bath, and Mud Bath. Have you heard of Sound Bath?

Dear Friends,

One female cockroach can produce up to 300–400 offspring. A termite colony can reach millions and cause major structural damage in 3–6 months. What do you do immediately? You call pest control, right? Pest control works not just by killing the pest, but by understanding its pattern, access, and ecosystem.

What is the pest for the body today? Stress and Anxiety.

A couple of days back, I was sitting on my balcony. A father, aged 60–70 years, was consoling his daughter, who works in IT. She was complaining about her manager’s pressure, how she was unable to handle the targets, wanted to change her job, etc. The father was saying that changing jobs was not a permanent solution. Make work agreements clear, communicate properly, and avoid hasty decisions, he advised.

At the age of 15 – study pressure, rank pressure.
At the age of 23 – job selection pressure.
At the age of 25 – package pressure.
At the age of 28 – marriage selection pressure.
At the age of 30 – maintaining family expectations while managing company expectations is pressure.
At the age of 50–70 – new medical problems occur.
From the age of 70+ – leading life itself is pressure.

44% of employees globally experience daily workplace stress. Stress-related burnout costs employers over $300 billion annually.

Where does it lead? Again, to more stress.

The loop works like this:
Stress → Poor Sleep → Weakened Immunity → Low Energy & Mood → Increased Anxiety → More Stress.

In our days, if you visited any village, the entire community would sit at the Ramalayam or any temple or spiritual gathering place. Have you ever experienced a one-hour stay next to a temple bell? Temple bells produce long-resonating frequencies, often between 90–120 Hz, which align with the theta brainwave range (associated with deep meditation and relaxation). The reverberation can last up to 7 seconds and is said to activate all seven chakras in the body. The human body is ~70% water, and sound waves can create microscopic vibrations. They reduce muscular tension and calm the nervous system.

Thanks to the pressure, especially in IT and related industries, companies have started offering “Sound Bath Therapy” or “Music Bath Therapy” for wellness. All participants are immersed in sound waves produced by instruments like gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks, chimes, or even the human voice. Unlike a music concert, it's not meant to be watched or danced to—it's meant to be absorbed. These therapists are charging a decent amount to give that experience.

In our ancient system—and even today—if you happen to be in a Krishna temple, devotees sing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. They repeat this mantra with kartals (hand cymbals), mridanga drums, and often a collective voice, continuously for 1–2 hours or more. Repeating a mantra multiple times entrains your mind to a single frequency, reducing distraction, anxiety, and thought clutter. The effect is similar to deep meditation—but with sound as the anchor instead of silence.

Instruments like the veena, violin, or tanpura produce continuous, droning, or resonant notes. I am requesting a few of my relatives to get deep into this kind of work and bring a platform so that people can play and listen in isolation.

Indian wisdom has always been ahead of its time. We lost touch with it for a while and are now rediscovering the same truths in new forms—be it Ayurveda, yoga, chanting, or sustainable living itself.

Are you experiencing this syndrome?

Ravi Saripalle

From Cross-Sector AI to Cross-Species Empathy: Lessons from Fusion AI Summit 2025

Dear Friends,

Over the last two days, I had the opportunity to contribute to the Fusion AI Summit 2025 in two unique capacities:

As a moderator, I led the panel “Cross-Sectoral AI: Driving Innovation and Efficiency Across Industries.”

And as a panel speaker, I joined the discussion on “Building the AI Skilling Ecosystem: Preparing for the Future Workforce.”

My favourite reflection from the stage:

“We don’t need AI that thinks like us—we need AI that understands who we serve.”

Among the many thought-provoking conversations, one unexpected story truly stood out for its depth, humanity, and vision—the way AI is being deployed at Vantara, the 3,000-acre animal rescue and conservation project by Reliance Industries in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Led by Anant Mukesh Ambani, Vantara is one of the world’s largest and most advanced animal care centers—a sanctuary, hospital, and habitat all in one.

What amazed me was how AI is being used to:

• Track animal health metrics in real time using wearables and computer vision

• Monitor behavioral patterns across rescued species

• Predict disease outbreaks using environmental and biometric signals

It’s a perfect example of AI not replacing humans—but augmenting compassion with precision where veterinarians meet data scientists. Where sensors translate into empathy.

At a time when AI is largely discussed in the context of profits, platforms, and productivity, Vantara reminds us that AI can also serve life itself.

One of the most touching stories came from Dr. Madan Dabbeeru (PhD in Cognitive Robotics), who is part of the Vantara effort.

He shared how, through cognitive systems and observational AI, the team discovered how elephants “talk” to each other—from a mother elephant “checking in” with the father about their calf, to entire herds sharing stress signals across long distances.

Even more moving was the story of bears exhibiting suicidal behavior—triggered by digestive pain from being unable to defecate. The solution? Biologists designed a calming behavioural therapy using bananas placed in 8-shaped circles, gradually guiding the bears toward water, restoring both their physical and emotional balance.

These stories reminded me that AI isn’t just about automation—it’s about deeper observation. About translating the language of life.

Maybe it’s time we develop similar AI-powered systems for humans—ones that detect stress, anxiety, or cognitive overload not just through wearables, but through subtle cues in speech, silence, posture, or interaction patterns.

As of 2019, more than 970 million people—1 in 8 globally—were living with a mental health disorder. That number is likely rising as technology accelerates our pace, but not always our peace.

We don’t just need smarter machines—we need more emotionally intelligent systems. Ones that nudge us to pause, breathe, and heal. Because sometimes, the most humane thing AI can do…is remind us to be human.

Ravi Saripalle

Running for Life, Not Just for Food: A Reflection on Purpose

Dear Friends,

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I received a message:

“In a race between a lion and a deer, many times the deer wins because the lion runs for food and the deer runs for its life — the purpose is more than the need.”

Hope you are all aware of these facts. A daily wage laborer from Bihar, Dashrath Manjhi, carved a 110-meter-long path through a mountain using just a hammer and chisel — over 22 years — to ensure no one else would suffer like his wife, who died due to lack of timely medical access. At age 29, Chhonzin Angmo from Himachal Pradesh became the first visually impaired woman to summit Everest on May 19. Losing sight at age eight, she defied medical uncertainty and societal barriers. Her ascent exemplifies how purpose lights the path through the darkest challenges.

Today, the purpose is fading. It should be part of education. Fifteen years ago, when I was part of the startup ideas jury, we used to get grounded ideas like how to improve agricultural productivity and profitability. In recent times, most of the ideas are on travel, how to make better reels, or just to run entertainment goals. The reason is that they are not fighting on Maslow’s Theory (from bottom to top) — Physiological Needs and Safety Needs. The people taking up entrepreneurship competitions are mostly middle-class, upper-middle-class, or rich. Hence, their focus is mostly on Belongingness and Love (relationships, social connection), Esteem (respect, recognition, status), and Self-Actualization (growth, fulfilment). This is the difference. If the bottom of the pyramid takes up entrepreneurship, it is mostly for survival — feeding the stomach for that day or week. They never pitch but simply act. However, many times, they cannot grow beyond a point, except for a few exceptions.

Social and Rural Immersion programs in educational settings are mere tour visits or credit-scoring visits for many of them. As parents, we should also keep a bar on how much we transfer our wealth to our children. We should not build assets for their future comforts. This process hampers their thought process. They cannot think below a certain point. We should provide good education, good food and medication, and, at most, a liveable place, if possible. In my view, beyond a point, if we provide too much, one generation is saved, but in the next two to three generations, they return to the normal stage, except for a few exceptions.

Of course, preaching is easy, but practicing is tough! Sometimes, our attachments and natural instincts do not cooperate. However, consciously, we need to keep this conversation alive at home; otherwise, we are providing a shell without substance. Recently, I was listening to a conversation. A boy got an IIT seat but was unable to pay the ₹1.5 lakh first-year fee. He went from pillar to post to get this ₹1.5 lakh and took a loan for the rest of the three years. His mother’s monthly income was less than ₹10,000. The same boy later qualified for the civil services.

When we don’t have something, we come to know its value in that absence. A few weeks ago, I was having pain in my leg. I was barely able to walk. At that time, I came to know the value of a single nerve connecting my ankle. Personally, I know a boy who is intelligent. Everything was going normally. However, his father suddenly passed away due to a heart attack. His whole educational plan became a big block. All the savings were utilized for medical bills. Now, the boy, on his own, at the age of 17, is trying to join a school, keeping the budget at the center. I am sure he will be most successful, as he is getting a life education, which is the foundation for any college education.

Did you hear any such inspiring stories?

Ravi Saripalle

Is Art of Living Limited to Art of Parenting in the Current Age?

Dear Friends,

When we were children, elders used to say, once you secure good marks in the 10th class, you are almost settled in education. During intermediate, once you get into Engineering or any professional degree, your life is settled. Once that is done, we need to struggle to secure a job that matches the degree. Once a job is secured, marriage takes priority. Once marriage is done, children follow. At this stage, we think we are done with the major achievements of life. However, we soon realize that our real problems start from here. The problems that occurred till that date were only pilot studies!!

Recently, one of my friends called me and expressed his distress over the incident that happened in Meghalaya with a newlywed couple. The internet was stormed with this news. Twenty or thirty years back, parents used to relax once their child's marriage was done, as their job was more or less complete. The role of parenting used to stop there. The rest of life was to relish the good and bad—if health permitted. Otherwise, the focus would shift to managing health-related issues.

Is it the case now? Absolutely not.

The problem starts when children are in the toddler stage. A recent study in India reveals that over 60% of toddlers spend excessive time on screens, exceeding WHO guidelines and potentially hindering brain development. The study found that screens are used to pacify children, free up parents’ time, and allow completion of household chores. Research says it affects mental health and behaviour.

Once they go to school, parents own the academic pressures, social dynamics, and personal struggles. Recently, a mother quit her job—I should say, sacrificed her job—to stay with her son in Kota for IIT coaching. She stayed with the child to support his dream. In our days, these situations were rare. Even if they existed, it was mostly to ensure educational continuity, and that too only if the father had a transferable job. However, today, these academic pressures are not limited to one city, but are present throughout the world. In fact, there has been a disturbing rise in student suicides over the years due to academic pressure.

Once this phase is over and children get a job, the actual problem starts during the marriage process. The ugly and informal “6-6-6 rule” (6 ft height, six-pack abs, 6-figure income) is driving the match-making process. It is not just about male or female; these rules are influencing everyone. Recently, I read about a parent who took an extreme step because they were unable to arrange a suitable match for their daughter.

But the game is not over.

Today, parents are constantly wary of whether marriages will stand the test of time or not. The 2–5 years post-marriage are considered critical; otherwise, the fear of divorce haunts them.

Once this phase is over, parents face financial and medical issues. Earlier, many used to receive pensions. Today, that is not the case. They are worried about their jobs, especially post-50, as they begin to lose productivity. They are expected to sustain themselves until 60 or 65, as responsibilities continue to grow.

Recently, an incident went viral where children sent their aged mother out of her own house. While life expectancy is increasing, various medical issues are impairing mobility in old age. Sometimes, the mental burden they carry is more painful than death itself.

When we sum up the entire life, what is the most difficult phase for an individual when considering both physical and mental burden? It is not during childhood, not during education, not while getting a job, but once you take on responsibilities as a spouse, as a parent, and also as a caregiver to your own parents. The phase of parenting is the most difficult stage of life—without much appreciation.

Which phase of your life is filled with complexity?

Ravi Saripalle

The Neurons Behind Neural Networks: The Human Factor in Meta’s AI Vision

Dear Friends,

Meta has assembled a "Superintelligence" AI team. This dream team is more than just a collection of coders—it’s a convergence of brilliant minds shaped by elite education, relentless curiosity, and psychological depth.

I'm curious about where they studied, what they did, and what kind of skills they possess. Many of them come from institutions like Stanford, Princeton, Tsinghua, and IIT. Their résumés boast stints at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic. Many began their journeys with research assistant roles and internships at Adobe, Facebook, and Google Brain—developing meta-skills early in their careers.

If I had to summarize their cognitive archetypes, here’s how I would do it:
• The Researcher (e.g., Shengjia Zhao, Stanford PhD): Focused on theoretical purity and experimental control.
• The Builder (e.g., Shuchao Bi, YouTube Shorts co-founder): Driven by execution, systems thinking, and a strong product-to-research feedback loop.
• The Synthesizer (e.g., Huiwen Chang, Google Research + OpenAI): Excels in cross-modal creativity and possesses a design-thinking mindset.

These individuals work on complex topics like multi-agent systems, human-AI alignment, and interpretability—fields that require not just logic, but also empathy.

For example:
• Shuchao Bi transitioned from Zhejiang University to graduate work at UC Berkeley, blending mathematical depth with real-world impact at YouTube and OpenAI.
• Shengjia Zhao and Huiwen Chang, both Tsinghua alumni, pursued doctoral research at Stanford and Princeton, exemplifying the Yao Class tradition of academic brilliance.
• Jiahui Yu, a prodigy from USTC’s School of the Gifted Young, earned a PhD at UIUC, specializing in computer vision and generative models.
• Trapit Bansal, trained in India’s IIT system, sharpened his machine learning focus at UMass Amherst, balancing theoretical clarity with application.
• Shuyao Bi, who moved from Shanghai Jiao Tong University to Carnegie Mellon, showcases the practical backbone of real-time systems engineering.

You might be wondering, what’s the story for today?

About 4–5 years ago, in one of my talks, I mentioned that the world will eventually have only five types of jobs:
1. Entrepreneur
2. AI Trainer/Tuner
3. Prompt Engineer (including Agents and Agentic AI)
4. Design Thinker
5. AI General User (many existing jobs fall under this category—e.g., personalized content curation like reels)

It now seems that investments and talent are aligning in this direction.

If we map qualities and skills to these five types:
• Entrepreneur – Risk appetite and a problem-solving mindset through product or service innovation
• AI Trainer/Tuner – Mathematical and statistical intelligence, computational power, broad domain understanding, and mastery of algorithms
• Prompt Engineer – Use-case orientation and the ability to apply AI in real-world contexts
• Design Thinker – Empathy combined with experiential innovation (balancing business affordability, human desirability, and technical feasibility)
• AI User – Anyone who uses AI tools in daily life (e.g., customized content, virtual assistants, etc.)

Every student should reflect on their own strengths and align with one of these types during their UG/PG journey. Doing so can enhance both employability and sustainability in their career.

Which type are you?

Ravi Saripalle

Why Your Quiet Colleague Might Be the Most Influential?

Dear Friends,

We all share a popular belief — myself included — that people who are widely known must be great. Traditionally, we tend to think that if many people know you, you are popular and therefore successful. Most of us think this way. Do you?

If someone has a lot of followers on Instagram or Facebook, we often consider them influential. Do you agree with this statement? Initially, I did — but eventually, I realized I was mistaken. It turns out that assumption may not be entirely true. A compelling article challenges this theory.

Science Advances (a journal with an impact factor of 11.7) published a fascinating study that asks a fundamental question: “Who is more popular — the one with the most followers or the one with deep network knowledge?” Let me explain with an example.

Imagine two of your colleagues. One is outgoing and seems to have influence with senior management. The other is more reserved but has a strong grasp of the internal system — who knows whom, who trusts whom, and so on. Who would you consider more influential?

According to the article:
• Highest number of followers = popularity
• Deep understanding of social connections = influence

Popularity may open doors, but social insight helps you build the house.

So how did they prove this?

The study tracked 187 first-year university students over an academic year to understand how individuals gain social influence. The researchers discovered that those who ultimately became the most influential were not the ones with the most friends, but those who had early and accurate insight into how their peers were connected — the overall structure of the social network. Simply knowing many people, or being aware of individual friendships, did not predict influence. As the network stabilized over time, these insightful individuals further deepened their understanding of social ties.

When I reflect on this, it makes perfect sense. In fact, this is at the heart of marketing, isn’t it?

At Wipro, we had the concept of Hunters and Farmers in our sales structure. The hunter’s job was to identify new leads, while the farmer would deepen engagement within an existing account to generate more revenue. In both roles, success depended on influence — specifically, understanding the customer's internal network and knowing who the decision-makers were. It was never about how many people you knew, but how well you understood the ecosystem and managed relationships.

Sales and marketing can't be taught entirely in a classroom. You learn the fundamentals through instruction, yes — but true learning happens on the field.

On a lighter note, in the old days, almost every family had that one aunt or uncle who knew everything about everyone — who was getting married, who had health problems, what the latest gossip was. That person was the “hub” of the family network. Ironically, many of those uncles and aunts are now lost in Instagram reels and slowly losing their influencer status!

So, let me ask you:

Are you popular, or are you an influencer in your family or social network?

Ravi Saripalle