Ayush in the limelight with 'Knox AI'

The 'Knox AI' app invested by the same OpenAI is now in the eyes of Silicon Valley investors. The makers are trying to prepare it to handle a total of one billion traffic.

'Knox AI' is such an app, which can call a cab and motorbike from Uber or any 'ride sharing app' as per the user's need, and can buy movie tickets in the hall by paying money online. This app is trained to call a restaurant and order food, write a 'reply' to an email, schedule an office meeting or make a reminder. While talking on the phone, it not only responds by saying 'I am speaking on behalf of so-and-so', but also makes 'appointments' and bookings.

As in traditional AI technology like ChatPTG or Gemini, Knox AI does not need to be given commands (instructions) to "do this, do that". Being a 'personal assistant', it has the ability to take a look at the user's daily life and digital activities and schedule the entire day by itself. More simply, this app gives the user all the features of a personal assistant, like a personal secretary to a leader or minister.

'Knox AI' is currently not available in Nepal. Incidentally, the engineer who made this app is a Nepali, Ayush Pokharel. He is now 23 years old. Aayush is working as a founding engineer for Knox AI under the leadership of Chinese-American Molly Cantillon, founder and CEO of Knox AI. His 4 percent vesting stock (share share) in the company is assured. Mali and Aayush's group plans to launch the app in September. Ayush said that they are currently busy with appointing more engineers in the company and doing 'back end' work.

Silicon Valley's 'startup' world

Last December, Ayush Ekohoro was studying for the third-year exam in computer science at York University in Canada. That's when he got an email from 20-year-old Molly Cantillon, a student at Stanford University in California. "I am trying to do such and such, but I don't have a team, I don't have funds, I want to make an app, can you help?" she asked. After Ayush said yes, the two of them did 'remote work' from their respective places for the first month. After the app was made, Ayush left Toronto and moved to California.

'By searching websites like GitHub, Producthunt, Devpost, I gathered strong engineers from all over the world, one of them was Ayush Pokharel,' Mali said in a conversation with Business 'Insider', 'They called all of them Palo Alto and asked them to sit on plastic sheets on the floor and work. I did it, everyone was ready.'' Mali, who has been active in information technology and entrepreneurship since school and studied at Stanford, had good access to Silicon Valley. She showed her app to investors there. "The founders of OpenAI and WhatsApp were ready to invest immediately," says Ayush. It is currently undergoing private beta testing. The wait list of those who want to run has reached 2 lakh.'

Mali told Business 'Insider' that she felt the need to invest in it after the local media discussed about it. He claims that he is receiving one check after another. Ayush also said that even though there are many interested investors, they are avoiding it saying that they do not need more investment. "Allowing investment means that our company will be diluted, now we don't need more investment," he told Kantipur, "The valuation of the company has reached 60 million dollars. That's all right now. According to him, Angel Venture Capitalists from Silicon Valley have invested in Knox with one million dollars from OpenAI Startup Fund.

The dream of becoming a CEO

Knox's job is over, Ayush also wants to start his own company. He said that a product ie an app has been made for this. AYUSH says that although the demand for therapists in America is high, the fee is expensive and they are trying to make it cheaper and cheaper. Together with Lilien Holler from Austria, he has created the app 'Unstuck' which connects 'therapist and client'. In this 'AI integrated' app, users can record their problems at any time, the app finds those problems and prepares a report and the 'report therapist' looks at the report and gives necessary advice to the client.

'This app is also in good demand, we have started earning 5 thousand dollars a month from it,' says Ayush, 'It is income from subscription. This app is not even public, only beta version is made. But the user is paying money to become a member. He thinks that the therapy service can be taken for a minimum of 5/6 dollars per month through the app. Currently, only patients with 'Obsessive Compulsive Disorder' (OCD) can receive therapy services through the app, but they plan to gradually include other therapists in it.

'Knox and Unstock are both apps, if it had been a year or two ago, I would have stayed in Knox, but now I don't want to be an engineer, I want to be a CEO,' says Ayush, 'so, if I have to choose one of the two, I will choose Unstock because it has me I am the CEO.''Ayush understands that even though he has met Nepalis working in the top positions of big companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Google, there are not many Nepalese in the startup sector there. He said that he wanted to be an entrepreneur rather than a jobber. "Having a steady job reduces the risk and the reward is less," he said, "Startup is a risky job, it can be successful, it can fail, it can be zero, it can be a hundred." I am trying to take this risk.'

One app after another

Ayush made the first app in Nepal 6/7 years ago – Phone ML. It was 'Image Recognition Based Machine Learning App'. It used to tell the name of goods or things by looking at pictures or videos. After that he started making new apps every month/two months and releasing them on the 'market place'. His app that blocks ads on YouTube is currently 'downloaded' on 50,000 devices. Ayush studied at Budhanilkanth School in Kathmandu till class 5 and then at Bal Vikas School of Science and Management in Gaindakot, Nawalparasi. He went to Canada when he was in class 11.

Even after moving to Canada, he continued his interest in making apps. The York University app created by him has also been downloaded by 50,000 people. He has created an app called 'York Uni' on his own accord and has also put a map in it and has kept details such as where and which classes are there. "I have created many apps, I removed some apps because I didn't have time to maintain them," he says, "Apps were like digging small holes for me. Instead of digging 16 pits, I am attached to Knox that I will dig only one well. Knox is a big well and Unstock is a small well.'

Ayush has planned to come to Nepal once after any one of the projects from 'Knox and Unstuck' is stabilized. He wants to come back here and share what he knows. "It is not possible to work now because the necessary infrastructure has not been built in Nepal," he said. The market may increase in the next five/ten years, then I will also come to Nepal to expand the company, what do you know?'