Our Story

Built in Kanpur to make AI careers practical, personal, and possible.

SDAI was founded after seeing a clear gap between what colleges teach, what online courses promise, and what companies actually expect from AI and data candidates.

We combine live teaching, real projects, mentorship, mock interviews, and referral support so students don't just learn AI — they build proof that recruiters can take seriously.

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We're not trying to create another course platform. We're building a local-to-global AI career school focused on proof, mentorship, and outcomes.

Why SDAI Exists

We started SDAI to fix three gaps in AI education.

The college-to-career gap

Most students learn theory; companies hire for applied skills, problem-solving, tools, projects, and confidence. SDAI is designed to close that gap with practical training.

The mentorship gap

Large courses can't give every learner the attention they need. We use small cohorts, project reviews, and direct mentorship so students get clear next steps every week.

The access gap outside metros

Quality AI education shouldn't be limited to Bengaluru, Delhi, or Hyderabad. SDAI brings serious AI training to Kanpur — and online to learners across India.

What We Believe

The SDAI operating principles.

These principles guide our courses, mentorship, projects, and student support — every cohort, every day.

✓Practical before theoretical

✓Portfolio proof over passive certificates

✓Small cohorts over crowded batches

✓Honest career guidance over hype

✓Mentorship from people who have built AI in production

✓Affordable learning with clear outcomes

How We Got Here

From industry experience to a practical AI school.

2020

Industry foundation

The founders began building deep experience across data science, AI systems, hiring interviews, and corporate training — the raw material that later became SDAI's curriculum.

2023

GenAI acceleration

Production GenAI, RAG pipelines, multi-agent systems, and corporate AI training became the core of how the founders worked — and shaped the SDAI teaching philosophy.

2026

SDAI launched in Kanpur

School of Data and AI was created to make serious AI education more practical, local, affordable, and career-transforming — starting from Kidwai Nagar.

Founders

Built by practitioners who teach what they've shipped.

Founder & Lead Mentor

Arpit Tiwari

Senior Data Scientist · GenAI Engineer · 5.5+ Years

Arpit has architected and deployed production-grade multi-agent systems at Fortune 100 companies. After interviewing 100+ GenAI candidates and mentoring students personally, he started SDAI to bring industry-grade AI education to Kanpur and beyond.

★ Turing Hero of the Month — 2×

★ 100+ students mentored personally

★ Fortune 100 healthcare GenAI architect

★ Tech Lead · GenAI interview panel, Turing

View LinkedIn Profile

Co-Founder & Co-Instructor

Kajal Mishra

Data Scientist · Corporate AI Trainer · 5+ Years

Kajal brings production ML, LLM, and RAG experience along with strong corporate-training depth. She has trained 100+ non-technical professionals and co-designs SDAI's curriculum and hands-on project sessions.

★ 100+ non-tech professionals trained

★ 3 agentic systems + 4 RAG pipelines

★ 50+ interviews conducted

★ LangGraph · CrewAI · LangChain specialist

View LinkedIn Profile

Want to experience our teaching style? Join the free 55-minute Sunday masterclass — no card, no commitment.

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Our Team

The people behind the student experience.

Mentors and specialists who support content, communication, freelancing, and student outcomes.

Anchal Mishra

Content Lead & Operations

Leads SDAI's content strategy, learning operations, and student communication so learners can understand and present their work clearly.

Content & AI · 6+ yrs Operations Communication coach

Akanksha Tiwari

Social Media & Freelancing Lead

Supports SDAI's digital presence and helps students with freelancing, online positioning, and practical client-facing communication.

AI freelancer Marketing MSc

Common Questions

About SDAI as an organisation.

Why was SDAI started in Kanpur instead of a metro?

Quality AI education has historically been concentrated in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad — students from Tier-2 cities either had to relocate or settle for generic online courses with no personal mentorship. The founders are from Kanpur and chose to bring metro-quality AI training home: classroom-based teaching at Kidwai Nagar, with the same content streamed live online so learners anywhere in India can join.

What makes SDAI different from edtech platforms like Scaler, Coursera, or YouTube?

Three concrete differences: (1) Cohort size is capped at 15 — both founders personally do code reviews and answer doubts, instead of TAs. (2) The curriculum is built by people still shipping AI in production at Fortune 100 scale, not by content teams. (3) We don't sell guaranteed placement — we focus on building portfolio proof and habits (LinkedIn presence, networking, communication) that compound, and offer referral support to top performers via a 20+ hiring manager network.

Are SDAI founders still working in industry?

Yes. Arpit is a Senior Data Scientist & GenAI Engineer on Turing's GenAI interview panel and continues to architect production multi-agent systems at Fortune 100 healthcare and finance scale. Kajal is a Data Scientist & Corporate AI Trainer actively building RAG pipelines and agentic systems for enterprise clients. The curriculum is what they themselves work on — not last year's slides.

Who actually teaches the classes — founders or hired trainers?

Both founders teach every cohort directly. There are no team mentors, no junior trainers, and no TA layer between students and instructors. The supporting team (Anchal, Akanksha) handles content, operations, and freelancing/social-media coaching — they don't replace the founders in the classroom.

Can I visit the SDAI centre before enrolling?

Yes — walk-ins are welcome at 128/70, K Block, Kidwai Nagar, Kanpur, Mon–Sat 9 AM – 9 PM IST. Please WhatsApp +91 79056 55394 first so a founder can be available to meet you (otherwise you may catch us mid-class). You can also experience the teaching style for free by registering for the Sunday masterclass.

Experience SDAI — for free.

Join our free bi-weekly Sunday masterclass. No commitment. Just real learning from practitioners who have built AI in production.