He's 16, in Class 12, and pays his father Rs 2 lakh a month: Meet Kerala's AI prodigy

At 16, while most teenagers are still figuring out what comes after Class 12, Raul John Aju is already running an AI startup, and paying his father Rs 2 lakh a month. But behind the startling headline is a bigger story of curiosity, ambition and the humility to keep learning.He’s 16, in Class 12, and pays his father Rs 2 lakh a month: Meet Kerala’s AI prodigy (LinkedIn/@Raul John Aju)At nine, Raul John Aju was teaching himself artificial intelligence. At 12, he built a robot. By 16, he was running a company while still studying in Class 12. His journey sounds less like the story of a teenager and more like the biography of someone twice his age. The Kerala teenager now leads a startup with around 15 employees and has developed more than 15 AI tools.His training initiatives have reportedly reached nearly five lakh learners around the world. He has spoken at major technology forums, participated in discussions on AI and children’s safety, and met United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.He has even hired his father, Aju Joseph, reportedly paying him Rs 2 lakh a month. But the most interesting part of Raul’s story may not be the number of AI tools he has built, the people he has trained or the stages he has appeared on.It is that, despite everything he has achieved at an unusually young age, he still understands that there are things he cannot learn alone. THE NINE-YEAR-OLD WHO TAUGHT HIMSELF AIRaul’s interest in artificial intelligence began when he was nine. His father’s work at Adobe gave him access to premium technology tools, opening a door into a field that was still unfamiliar to most children his age. Raul did not stop at using the technology. He began exploring how it worked, experimenting with what it could do and asking what he could build with it. Raul’s journey from a curious nine-year-old to an AI creator. (Image: Instagram/@Raul John Aju) Three years later, that curiosity became something tangible. At 12, Raul built MeBot, a robot for a school science project. It was an early indication of the way he approached technology: not simply as something to consume, but as something to create with. Since then, he has developed more than 15 AI tools, including MeBot, RESQ AI, ZapGap, Investo AI and FeedFye. The common thread is practical use. For Raul, technology is most valuable when it can be applied to a real problem rather than simply displayed as a technical achievement.WHEN THE TEENAGER BECAME HIS FATHER’S BOSSPerhaps the most unusual chapter in Raul’s journey is also the most personal. At 16, he is not only building a company; he is employing his father.Aju Joseph brings decades of experience from companies including Amazon, Adobe, Wipro and IBM, knowledge Raul knows he cannot gain overnight or simply learn from his phone.Raul says having his father work alongside him helps him learn from someone who understands how organisations and technology businesses operate. He even joked that having his father in the company was “good for my marketing.”Behind the humour is a mature approach to leadership. Raul understands that early success does not mean knowing everything. He recognises where his experience ends and where someone else’s begins.The son may be the boss, but he is still willing to be a student.TURNING AI INTO A LEARNING EXPERIENCERaul’s work has increasingly moved beyond building AI products. Through his startup and ThinkCraft Academy, he has focused heavily on AI education, with the belief that technology should not be limited to computer science graduates or technology professionals.His training initiatives have reportedly reached nearly five lakh learners worldwide, including students and professionals associated with IITs, IIMs, foreign universities and corporate institutions.He also shares AI-related knowledge through social media, where he is known as “Raul the Rockstar.” But his message is not simply about learning how to use artificial intelligence. Raul has argued that young people should embrace AI without losing the qualities that make them human --- creativity, empathy, curiosity and individuality.FROM KERALA TO THE UNITED NATIONSRaul’s journey has already taken him far beyond his classroom in Kerala. His work in AI has brought him into conversations on technology, education and public services, including initiatives linked to Kerala and Dubai.At the 2026 India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, he participated in a UN-organised session on AI and children’s safety and delivered the opening address. He also met UN Special Envoy Amandeep Gill and interacted with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.For a Class 12 student, these are extraordinary milestones. Yet Raul seems to view them not as a finish line, but as another opportunity to learn, grow and dream bigger.A MESSAGE THAT GOES BEYOND AIAt the India Today South Conclave 2025, Raul spoke about India’s potential to become a technology leader, stressing the importance of research, skills, education and creativity rather than treating marks and degrees as the only measures of a young person’s potential.That idea runs through Raul’s journey. At nine, he explored AI. At 12, he turned that curiosity into a robot. By 16, he had built a company while recognising that some lessons cannot be learned from a screen.Perhaps his biggest lesson is simple: success at a young age does not mean knowing everything; it means knowing what you still need to learn. Still in Class 12, Raul continues to experiment, learn and build. He did not wait until adulthood to start shaping his future, he started at nine.- EndsPublished By: Apoorva AnandPublished On: Aug 27, 2026 16:41 IST