Interview: Work where AI meets learning

Syntea is our agentic AI for learning: everything needed for study, all in one place. It spots our students’ gaps, lines up the next step, and will, over time, handle the paperwork that usually feels like a hassle. Benjamin Meindl is one of the leaders behind the platform. He shares shipped features, near‑term bets and the culture that makes this possible.

Hi Benjamin, we’re happy to have you as one of the first guests on the IU Group (IUG) career blog! You didn’t hesitate for a second before saying, ‘Yes, gladly!’ – many thanks for that. To start off: Who are you, what do you do at IUG and where would we typically find you during the workday?

That sounds exciting! So you’re working directly on IUG’s AI. What exactly is the “Syntea” project?

Syntea is our AI-powered learning assistant and student hub. We’re relaunching it: the old Syntea was mainly a Q&A helper, the new Syntea aims to become the central interface at syntea.com between IU and our students. Think of it as a personal, 24/7 tutor that explains content with text, images and videos, offers interactive quizzes and progress tracking and even nudges you proactively on what to study next. Over time, students will also handle admin tasks right there: checking exam results, updating their address, joining study sessions – an end-to-end study experience in one place.

What makes Syntea different is that it unifies what’s usually scattered across tools: AI helpers, LMS platforms and admin portals into a single, student‑centric interface. Under the hood, it uses modern AI models and connects seamlessly to our systems so everything just works.

And what role does your team play in it?

My team, which we call SynteaOS, builds the “operating system” for all of this. Core infrastructure, backend, user interface and connectors. We’re about 11 people: full‑stack engineers who work across frontend, backend, and AI; two designers; a Product Owner who drives day‑to‑day delivery; and an Engineering Manager focused on developer growth and reliability. In my role as Head of Agentic AI Platform, I own the vision and product strategy, align with other teams, and keep us true to an AI‑first mindset – using AI not just to speed up tasks, but to rethink how we build the whole experience.

So you’re laying the groundwork for a completely new learning experience. Could you share a concrete example of how students are already benefiting from your solutions right now and in the future?

Absolutely. We’re in an exciting rollout phase where the “classic” Syntea and the new Syntea run side by side. Today, many students already use Syntea for exam prep: it’s an intelligent drill trainer with multiple‑choice and free‑text questions, instant feedback and explanations, plus optional mock exams.

With the new Syntea, we’re planning to connect the dots. Imagine you’re practising Chapter 2 and stumble on a concept. You can ask Syntea for a quick recap, get a concise summary or short video and then jump straight back into questions. Your progress is tracked against the coursebook and Syntea recommends exactly which topics to revisit. The next day you’ll get a gentle nudge to pick up where you left off. You can even create a personal study plan by typing or using voice and export it if you like to print things out.

In short, students already benefit from smarter preparation, continuous feedback and a clear sense of progress while we steadily roll out more of the end‑to‑end experience. Looking ahead, Syntea will also support and increasingly automate administrative processes, so tasks like exam registration or address changes happen seamlessly in the background.

More about our study AI? → Take a tour

And finally, looking ahead: What role do you think AI will play in education over the next few years and why is it particularly exciting to be working on this topic at IUG right now?

AI in education is having its “overhyped short‑term, underestimated long‑term” moment. There’s buzz, but also real impact: soon our students won’t email an admin inbox; you’ll talk to an assistant that understands your intent and gets things done. In learning, AI can track understanding across sessions, spot strengths and gaps and guide students with truly personalised paths and clear “you’re ready” signals.

“What makes working here so exciting is the wholehearted support for that vision. Leadership and teams lean in, experiment early and move fast from prototype to something students can actually use. We have the content, the scale, and the mandate to try bold ideas, from AI‑assisted coding to agentic tutors, and to iterate on real feedback. What Google Scholar did for research, AI will do – only bigger and end‑to‑end – across the entire study experience. Being at IUG right now means helping shape that future, not just watching it.”