IIT Kharagpur's Free AI Tutor Is Live on NDLI: How Students Can Use It Without Letting It Think for Them

Most AI tools are built to hand you an answer. The new NDLI-FERMI AI Tutor is built to do the opposite, and that is why it is worth a look.

What launched

IIT Kharagpur launched the NDLI-FERMI AI Tutor along with a free online preparation platform for GATE and IIT-JAM. Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar launched both at IIT Kharagpur's Research Park in Rajarhat, Kolkata, as part of the institute's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The tutor was developed with Fermi AI and sits inside the National Digital Library of India (NDLI). It is free for registered users. NDLI is sponsored by the Ministry of Education and, per the institute's statement, hosts more than 130 million learning resources and serves over one crore learners.

What it does

• Guided learning. It uses questions, hints and contextual explanations so you work toward the solution yourself, instead of just receiving it.
• Scan & Ask. You scan or submit a problem and ask for help in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology. It is meant to help you find your mistake and understand the concept behind it.
• Free GATE and JAM platform. A separate free online preparation platform for GATE and IIT-JAM, aimed at students who cannot rely on paid coaching.

How to try it

1. Go to the NDLI website (ndl.gov.in) and register or log in. The tutor is for registered users.
2. Look for the NDLI-FERMI AI Tutor / Fermi AI service on the platform.
3. Start with a problem you already tried and got wrong. Use Scan & Ask and read the hints before asking for more.

(Reports describe the tutor as available through NDLI, and EdexLive's guide points to NDLI's virtual assistance or chatbot section. We have not tested it ourselves yet, so the exact menu name may differ.)

How to use it well

• Try the problem first for 10 minutes. Then ask.
• Ask "what concept am I missing?" rather than "what is the answer?"
• Re-solve the problem without the tutor the next day. If you can't, you borrowed the understanding.
• Check final answers against your textbook or a teacher. Any AI tutor can be wrong.

What we don't know yet

• The launch announcement did not give a separate portal link or enrolment steps for the GATE and JAM platform, so check IIT Kharagpur's official website for access details.
• Coverage is described for Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology. Nothing in the coverage says it handles other subjects such as engineering or computer science topics.
• There is no independent test of how accurate it is. Treat it as a study aid, not an authority.

Why it matters

The Ministry of Education, the minister at the launch, said AI should support independent thinking rather than replace it. For students already using ChatGPT or Gemini to copy answers, a free tool that pushes you to reason is a useful counterweight. It costs nothing to try.

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