Founders Note

When I completed my PhD at IIT Madras, two things stayed with me: AI and research. I had spent years in the slow, demanding world of research, learning to read closely, question assumptions, work with complexity, interpret context, write, revise, and live with uncertainty. At the same time, the world around research was changing rapidly. AI was beginning to reshape how we learn, teach, research, write, create, communicate, and produce knowledge. It made me think about what happens to research in an AI-driven world, and what happens to the humanities when the very processes through which knowledge is produced begin to change.

I did not want to approach AI either through fear or uncritical enthusiasm. I felt there was a need for a space where AI could be explored critically, ethically, and creatively, with the humanities and social sciences at the centre. That became the idea behind The Humanities Lab, envisioned as India’s first AI Living Lab for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Lab brings together AI education, interdisciplinary research, research consultancy, ethical technology consultancy, innovation, and the superskilling of PhD scholars and researchers. We are particularly interested in supporting researchers through the changing demands of academic and professional life, including non-linear PhD journeys, emerging research careers, interdisciplinary work, and pathways that extend beyond conventional academic structures.

At its heart, the Lab is built on the belief that AI needs the humanities, just as much as the humanities need to engage with AI. Technology can accelerate research, help us discover and analyse information, translate, communicate, and create, but acceleration is not the same as understanding. Critical thinking, cultural understanding, ethical reasoning, contextual interpretation, judgement, and human experience remain essential. As a women-led edtech, we want to create an inclusive space for students, researchers, institutions, and organisations to engage with these changes meaningfully. The Humanities Lab is ultimately an attempt to connect research with new possibilities, the humanities with technology, and researchers with a changing world, while asking an important question: as AI changes the world around us, what kind of future do we want to build?

First

AI Living Lab for Humanities in India

Women-Led

Founded and led by women scholars

Registered

Kerala Startup Mission