Imagine this: You are a student in a classroom looking at the class blackboard when suddenly, Albert Einstein appears on it and teaches you aspects of his Theory of Relativity. Fiction? No, it’s real. (Only, Einstein is AI created.)
A Chinese company, “iFLYTEK” showcased its AI Blackboard at the recent 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), presenting the AI school blackboard device as part of its AI-powered education portfolio designed for classroom teaching.
The AI Blackboard combines a traditional writing surface with artificial intelligence (AI) features intended to support classroom instruction.
According to iFLYTEK, this is no ordinary blackboard but “an intelligent hub integrated into the entire teaching process”.
Here are some of its features:
- Handwritten content on the board can be recognized and converted into standardized graphics, while the system can identify related knowledge points and recommend teaching resources.
- In mathematics lessons, the AI Blackboard can transform two-dimensional geometric figures into three-dimensional models for classroom display.
- The system also includes AI virtual human technology that allows students to interact with AI representations of historical and cultural figures, including Confucius, Albert Einstein and the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai.
- Teachers can also customize their own “digital clones,” replicating their voices with a single sentence to provide personalized Q&A for students after class, making individualized teaching a reality rather than just a concept.
- It can even be used to remotely conduct a class in another classroom thousands of miles away, and also eliminates language barriers.
- Separately, teachers can create AI-powered digital avatars using voice-cloning technology to answer students’ questions after class.
Background
iFLYTEK is a Chinese artificial intelligence company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province. The company specializes in speech recognition, natural language processing, machine translation, and other AI technologies, with products and services spanning education, healthcare, smart cities, finance, and enterprise applications.
In education, iFLYTEK develops AI-powered learning platforms, digital classroom technologies, and teaching tools for schools and universities. Its education portfolio includes smart classrooms, AI-assisted teaching systems, language learning solutions, and interactive devices such as the AI Blackboard.
The company has expanded its presence in China’s education sector through partnerships with schools and local governments, while also promoting selected education technologies in international markets.
For classroom documentation, the AI Blackboard uses a “4+1” camera system and AI audio processing to automatically record lessons. The system can generate lesson records and produce short instructional video clips from classroom sessions, according to the company.
iFLYTEK said the AI Blackboard has been deployed in all 33 provincial-level administrative regions in China and is used in more than 1,400 counties and districts. The company’s announcement also highlighted a demonstration in which the system supported a joint lesson between a school in Zhejiang Province and a school in Indonesia using AI capabilities to facilitate cross-language communication.
Image credit: iFLYTEK