This post was updated April 16 at 12:08 a.m.
A new web-based platform is giving UCLA students a more detailed studying experience – with a side of a Chick-fil-A giveaway – using generative artificial intelligence.
Prep.Pie converts users’ class materials to detailed notes and question sets to help students study, said Damian Lee, the platform’s chief strategy officer. The platform launched at UCLA with a Chick-fil-A giveaway at the beginning of March, according to a post on the platform’s Instagram account.
The platform was created by Korean company Mathpresso Inc. but launched in the United States because generative AI has undergone more development in English than in Korean, Lee said.
He added that the team chose to focus on UCLA and the West Coast because there are a lot of undergraduate students who are interested in innovation and also located within a small radius.
Lee said the platform is unique because content is generated based on user input rather than pre-stored information.
“Because our product is not … traditionally designed product, it requires early adopters and innovators who are very interested in new technology,” he said.
Prep.Pie interviewed UCLA students to figure out how to advertise the platform, said John Kim, a rising second-year at Emory University and a business development assistant at Prep.Pie. Through these interviews, the team learned campus-specific information, such as how Bruin Walk is a high-traffic route, Kim added.
Prep.Pie also partnered with the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, whose members created Instagram reels, advertised the platform and manned the booths during both of Prep.Pie’s launch events, said Jayden Barnholtz, a member of the fraternity and a content specialist manager for Prep.Pie.
The fraternity also hosted product demonstrations for others in Greek life, added Barnholtz, who is also a third-year business economics student.
“Our biggest asset to the team was our ability to have a large, accessible population of UCLA students and know where to navigate it through,” Barnholtz said. “It’s not like what we’re doing is impossible for them to do otherwise, but it would be very, very difficult.”
However, Barnholtz added that the team still ran into some roadblocks when marketing Prep.Pie. One of the biggest issues was the hesitancy of some team members to publish reels and affiliate themselves directly with Prep.Pie on their personal Instagram accounts, he said.
The team also struggled with determining how to analyze offline data and gauge interest from in-person events to make strategic decisions, said Sunny Han, Prep.Pie’s global business manager.
First-year history student Justin Shamoeil said he liked how Prep.Pie generates new notes while still maintaining subject matter from the core curriculum. However, he said the initial website design was not very intuitive, making it difficult to find the specific resources he needed.
Despite that, Shamoeil said he still thought the platform could be useful for him.
“I uploaded a few PDFs from our slides in one of my classes, and it gave me a lot of notes from that,” he said. “I haven’t seen any other software website that does that for you in an efficient and accurate way.”
Lee said Prep.Pie has three major plans for the future: Expand its user base across the country, broaden its subject coverage to include more complex courses, and connect its technology to learning management systems such as Canvas.
Han said she believes the team’s work ethic and dedication will help it to realize these goals.
“They were talking about it or thinking about it 24/7, which is crazy and insane,” she said. “But that’s what you need as a startup to make things work.”
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