Professors to get paid like creators, earn royalties from digital twins, AI avatars

Time of India

17-07-2025

Masters' Union has introduced a royalty model for professors, where they can earn per student and receive honoraria for online courses their AI avatars teach. The programme will feature digital twins of faculty, including former Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli, Morgan Stanley's India HR head Rajat Mathur, and others. The AI Institute will offer free business education, with courses by AI avatars set to start in July.
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Professors can now earn royalties when their AI avatars teach online, much like how musicians are paid per stream. A new model launched by business and technology school Master's Union allows professors to monetise digital twins trained on their voice, teaching style and content.Founded by Wharton Business School alumnus Pratham Mittal, the Gurugram-based institute stated that under the model, faculty members will earn a flat fee per unique learner, per subject. A one-time honorarium will be paid to professors licensing their avatars.Along with this, a reward programme has been designed to recognise and compensate the most-streamed digital twins, Master's Union told ET.The approach represents one of the first formal attempts in India to structure AI-based faculty compensation within a rights-based framework.The royalty programme is inspired by streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube. 'This framework treats educators not as employees, but as IP holders, whose teaching continues to generate value at scale,' Master's Union said in a statement. Visiting faculty and practitioners can also monetise their AI avatars through the institute.Some of the faculty members whose digital twins will soon launch on the platform are Manoj Kohli, Chairman of Masters' Union and former CEO of Bharti Airtel; Rajat Mathur, managing director and head of India human resources at Morgan Stanley; and Rajeev Soni, former product director at Gartner.'The idea that my digital twin can continue to mentor learners long after class is over and even after I've stopped teaching is incredibly powerful,' Kohli said. 'This model respects the educator's role while scaling their impact in a way that's never been done before.'The royalty model supports Master's Union's broader goal of offering free business education through its new platform, the Master's Union AI Institute (MuAI). Courses such as business communication, marketing, strategy, technology, and venture capital will be entirely taught by AI avatars, starting from July.The founder, Mittal, believes the future of online education won't be static but will shift to being responsive and personal. 'And we are doing it while respecting their intellectual rights, just like any modern creative economy. We believe this will redefine both how massive open online courses (MOOCs) are delivered, and how effective they can be.'