Turn a PDF Into an AI Classroom With OpenMAIC

OpenMAIC makes a lesson from a topic or source material. The lesson can include a talking AI teacher, slides, quizzes, and interactive activities. You can pause to ask about what is on the screen.

What this helps you do

Turn a document you need to learn into a lesson you can question and practice, instead of reading it straight through.

Before you start

• One PDF or set of notes you have permission to use.
• One specific learning goal. For example: “Teach me aperture, shutter speed, and ISO from this camera guide.”
• The public OpenMAIC demo to explore a sample classroom. Creating your own course may require an account or credits. A local installation needs a configured model provider.

Terms to know

• Classroom: the interactive lesson OpenMAIC generates.
• Source material: the PDF, notes, or other file you give it to build the lesson.
• Model provider: the AI service you connect when you run your own installation. The repository code is open source. Model use can cost money.

Step-by-step

1. Open the public demo. Choose EN if the page opens in another language. Select a sample classroom on the page to see the AI teacher, slides, and controls before making your own.
2. Decide what you want to learn from your document. Pick a narrow question, such as “How do aperture, shutter speed, and ISO change the look of a photo?”
3. To build a new class, start a course in OpenMAIC, describe that learning goal, and attach your PDF or notes. The official project lists PDF among its supported material inputs.
4. Review the lesson outline before you spend time on the full class. Keep the useful parts and change anything the source material does not support.
5. Play the lesson. Stop at a slide you do not understand and ask the teacher a question about that exact slide. Use a quiz to check whether the explanation stuck.

Copy this

Use this as the learning goal when you attach a document. Replace the bracketed text with your own topic.

Teach me [topic] using the attached document. Start with the three ideas I need first. Show one concrete example of each. After the lesson, quiz me on those three ideas and explain anything I miss.

Things to know

The repository is MIT-licensed, but the models and media services you connect can have usage costs. The hosted demo has its own access and credit rules. Check those in the demo before generating a new course.

For a local installation, follow the repository's Quick Start. Current main-branch setup needs Node.js, pnpm, PostgreSQL, and a model provider. The public demo is the easiest place to see the classroom before doing that setup.

If something goes wrong

• The lesson wanders beyond your document: make the learning goal narrower and ask it to use the attached material for the explanation.
• The quiz tests material you did not cover: edit the outline or ask for a quiz limited to the three ideas in your goal.
• You cannot create a class in the hosted demo: explore the public examples, then use the repository's setup instructions for your own installation.

Final check

Ask one question about a slide and complete one quiz. If an explanation matters for a decision, compare it with the original PDF.