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Play the pain away? To curb the use of pain meds, a research team is trying something new: A pain relief game. No meds, just you, a computer and a brainwave-monitoring headset. Don’t discount it, though: The first round of clinical trials went well, and they’re progressing to the next stage. 🎮

In this Open Letter:

This Tuesday deep dive examines the impact of leaning into AI-assisted study (instead of fighting it), introducing a local startup working to change how SA students learn...

AI has become the most popular student on campus – from ChatGPT essays to projects built by Copilot, universities around the country are still trying to figure out how to deal with students using AI.

Detection tools like GPTZero can only get you so far when you have over 1 million papers to check – SA has 1 million+ students in university or college, any given year. But the real question should be: Why are universities looking so punitively at AI instead of using it to bolster learning?

People in the real world use AI all the time – the adoption rate of AI is nearly double that of PCs and the internet when they first appeared. And the sheer academic power of AI in academia is already evident: OpenAI’s GPT-4 scored 75% in the US bar exam shortly after its release (7% higher than the human average).

So, isn’t it time we embraced AI in education instead of fighting it?

While institutions are focusing on the rules, students are focused on survival – in SA, 50% and 60% of students drop out of their first year at university. And some interpretations of Stats SA’s 2017 data claim that having a bachelor’s degree in SA means as much as a 330% increase in salary.

Getting that piece of paper is thus paramount. So what do students do?

And, increasingly, they turn to AI. Not to cheat, but to cope.

BAG Learning is a local AI platform designed to meet students where they’re actually at – by leaning into AI-assisted study.

Students upload their lecture materials (textbooks, slides, readings), and BAG Learning generates tailored study notes, quizzes, flashcards, and study plans based on their goals and available time. So…

Because students upload their own materials, BAG Learning isn’t reselling copyrighted university content. It acts more like a digital tutor, taking what the student already has and helping them understand it in a way that sticks.

The idea came from BAG Learning founder Brett Geyser’s own experience at Stellenbosch University: Juggling part-time jobs and microbusinesses to pay for his degree, skipping lectures, finding notes where he could, and using ChatGPT to try to pull it all together.

In his final year, he used just 18 pages of AI-generated notes (distilled from a 1’200+ page textbook and additional resources) to study for his toughest economics module. It was the only time he passed with distinction.

That lived experience has fuelled the vision. BAG Learning isn’t trying to replace universities. It’s trying to fill the gap between what’s taught and what students actually retain. And it’s going straight to the students themselves.

For now, BAG Learning is still early – they’ve launched their MVP, signed up early users and are preparing for a second development sprint. 

We love that AI doesn’t have to be a threat to institutions – it can be a valuable support system for the students they serve. We’re watching this space.

🚀 Boosting ZA tech learnings. Local tech academy WeThinkCode has landed a cool R35.94 million in funding from Google to expand its Artificial Intelligence (AI) training programs. WeThinkCode identifies young people with a high aptitude for coding and then places them in a 16-month training program before placing them at leading SA tech companies. Lekker, man.

🙈 Monkey see. Monkey do. Neuralink is getting closer to helping blind people see with its brain implant, Blindsight, reportedly helping a monkey see something that wasn't there. The device stimulated areas of a monkey’s brain associated with vision, and at least two-thirds of the time, the monkey moved its eyes toward something researchers were trying to trick the brain into visualising. Crazy. Cool, but crazy.

🌳 Clean green. South Africa has been selected as one of seven developing nations to take part in a new $1-billion global investment programme that provides concessional finance for projects that reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions. The programme was launched by the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF) with Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan taking part. Nice one.

🏉 Finally. DStv is strongly considering caving to consumer demands to be able to pick their own packages, tailor-made to their interests, with sports-only packages high up on the list. This comes off the back of reports that they haemorrhaged 3 million subs in just 2 years. They’ve also quietly been trialling weekly subscriptions in Uganda. Just wondering if it’s too little, too late…

🚚 Big moves. SA furniture removals platform Wise Move has just hit 100’000 users — and they’re not stopping there. The platform has now partnered with Gumtree, meaning if you buy a couch, car, or caravan online, Wise Move can deliver it straight to your door. No fuss, no heavy lifting. Intriguing…

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with all your tech recruitment streamlined and automated by Offerzen, zero-monthly-fee bank accounts and business loans in 4 minutes from Lula, plus loads more vital startup tools & services.

In the last few days alone, in our online network, we…

20 June 12:00 — Operationalising AI Masterclass: Learn how to deploy AI to power productivity across multiple layers of your business, with OfferZen’s VP of Product, Stephen van der Heijden.

27 June 12:00 — Business Value Masterclass: Come get the inside track on strategies to increase your business’s value, straight from the experts with Graham Stephen from bizval.

11 July 12:00 — Business Automation Masterclass: Come learn how to automate your entire business from day one with Theunis Duminy from the automation pros at Vertiqal.

Thinking about joining The Founder Collab?

SA’s only dedicated tech startup and scale-up founder network.

Last Friday, we gave you 4 fictional SA startups and a real one, and most people recognised mobile mechanics Fixxr…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔧 MechMate: live video consults with mechanics. (10%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧰 WaazeDraave: Automated diagnostics. (7%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🛠️ Fixxr: Book a mobile mechanic to your door. (62%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚗 PitStopper ZA: Oil changes and car washes at local malls. (7%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👋 RoadBuddy: Stay-awake video chats for long trips. (14%)

Your 2 cents…

Better hurry, Andersen, that Rubik’s robot’s already halfway through its second date. 🎲

ICYMI: We featured a Rubik’s cube-solving robot last Fast-Five Friday.