AI-Learners, a Cornell University student startup and participant in eLab’s 2021 cohort, was recently featured in Tompkins Weekly for its efforts to help children with disabilities learn mathematics.
The startup, led by CEO Adele Smolansky ‘23 and COO Mick Bronsky ‘23, takes an innovative and personalized approach to math education for young students with learning disabilities. Smolansky, who started coding in high school, was inspired by her younger sister who was born with Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder. AI-Learners came out of Smolansky’s desire to apply her coding skills to a platform that could help her sister, and other students with disabilities. AI-Learners engages students through a series of fun and educational online mathematical games and activities.
“I worked with a really small team last summer,” she said. “We were all virtual. We were just working on small games, building up infrastructure for AI-Learners. And then, in the fall, we applied for the Cornell eLab Accelerator Program, and we got in. And that was really when things took off.”
The AI-Learners team, comprised of approximately 30 Cornell students ranging from HR specialists to game developers, has doubled in size over the past year through their participation in eLab. The startup hopes to have fully launched the platform within the next few months.
“Technology is a super powerful tool, and I’m able to benefit from it and really help my education,” Smolansky said in the article. “And a lot of kids with disabilities aren’t in that same position. And they aren’t able to use some of the current websites that are online because they weren’t made for them. So, we really want to help kids with disabilities get that right technology so that they could get the education that they deserve.”
Read the full story about AI Learners’ startup journey in the Tompkins Weekly.