Bringing Ideas to Life in Rio: How aiXplain Empowered Developer Academy | PUC-Rio Students with AI

aiXplain’s recent collaboration with Apple Developer Academy | PUC-Rio brought advanced AI models into the hands of their talented student developers. Following the first 6 weeks of an app development challenge, aiXplain’s Swift SDK provided the students with the tools to enhance their applications with impactful AI features, transforming their innovative ideas into reality.

Apple Developer Academy: A Hub for Multidisciplinary Innovation

The Apple Developer Academy aims to cultivate world-class developers through comprehensive education that emphasizes hands-on experience and interdisciplinary collaboration. The academy provides students from diverse academic backgrounds with the skills needed to succeed in the thriving iOS app economy. This approach aligns perfectly with aiXplain’s mission of democratizing AI, making advanced technology accessible and beneficial to all.

“The structure at Apple Academy, with its series of challenges, really helped us focus on developing, improving, and enhancing our app. We were constantly encouraged to learn more and push the boundaries of what we could achieve.”

– Catarina, Tuto

Overview of the Event

The challenge spanned two months, beginning with two weeks of ideation and exploration of opportunities. This was followed by a month and a half of focused development to build the core functionalities of their apps. In the final two weeks, aiXplain delivered a workshop to enable students to integrate AI features into their projects, led by João Pedro Maia, Software Engineer at aiXplain and a former Academy student, and with the support of the amazing Apple Academy mentors Karina Tronkos, Ricardo Venieris, Pedro Gomes, and Guilherme Toledo. The workshop culminated in a final presentation of the students’ enhanced AI applications.

Hassan Sawaf, Founder & CEO of aiXplain, reviewed the final projects, offering feedback and insights, helping the students refine and improve their applications. His presentation on the potential of AI and its integration into everyday applications set to inspire and motivate the students to push the boundaries of their creativity and technical skills.

aiXplain’s Role in Empowering Students

The core of this collaboration was the aiXplain Swift SDK, which allows developers to call any AI model in aiXplain’s marketplace using just three lines of code. João Pedro Maia guided the students, showing them how to integrate AI into their applications quickly and effectively.

The aiXplain Swift SDK was a game-changer for the participants. Despite having no prior experience with AI, students were able to quickly implement sophisticated features into their apps. Norton Rodrigues from Tuto noted, “One of the things that really shocked me was how quick it was to implement AI inside our app and we had never had any experience using AI!”

The collaboration allowed their apps to achieve a higher level of functionality quickly and with ease, as Luiz Seibel from Tuto mentioned, “For me, as a programmer, it was mind-blowing to understand how powerful these tools are and how simply we could use them.”

Luana Nobre from LangSpeak added, “I think this bridge between the Academy and aiXplain was so cool because João Maia was in the place we are now, and seeing his journey made me realize we can achieve something similar.”

Innovative Projects Developed by the Students

The students worked on a variety of projects, each addressing unique challenges and incorporating AI features to enhance functionality.

Tuto: Empowering Digital Autonomy for the Elderly

Among the standout projects was Tuto, an app designed to assist elderly users with navigating digital tasks through personalized tutorials. Inspired by Marina Meirelles’ grandmother’s struggles with technology, the team developed a user-friendly interface that simplifies complex digital interactions. Integrating AI enhanced how users could make tutorials. Catarina Liberato described, “We created this tool where you give a prompt, and the AI creates a tutorial in the same format that the user can create.” She went on to say, “Our app would not be as impressive or as relevant if we didn’t have that new feature, and I think it just made our app so much more complete in such a short period of time.”

SlangSpeak: Enhancing Language Learning

Another exciting project, SlangSpeak, focuses on teaching the informal vocabulary of Rio de Janeiro. Using AI, the app transforms formal phrases into local slang, enhancing the language learning experience. Users input a formal sentence, and the AI converts it into local slang, helping them naturally understand and use everyday language. Amanda Baião said, “I think AI brought a lot of value because one of the main problems was that people couldn’t find or translate the words we use here. With AI, they don’t really have to think, they can just write what they want to say, and it’s going to give them back a sentence they can use.”

Here is a brief overview of the other fantastic apps developed:

1. TinTinn: Organize events effortlessly with tools designed for both small gatherings and large meetups, ensuring a successful event. Link
2. GlyphGen: Design bitmap fonts with ease, drawing and editing characters while AI automatically generates the complete alphabet.
3. TeamIt: Streamline scheduling by finding the best meeting times and syncing with Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar. Link
4. NãoPOD!: Support young people quitting vaping with AI-driven insights that help users understand themselves and stay committed. Link
5. Letter Capsule: Preserve memories as letters, photos, or videos to revisit on chosen dates, with AI helping to craft your messages. Link
6. DeResenha: Enjoy collaborative games like Chameleon and Who Am I? at social gatherings, and use the Memory feature to capture and share moments. Link
7. RunMate: Reach your running goals with personalized plans based on your age and experience level. Track your progress, set goals, and unlock new stages as you evolve from planning to executing your activities. Link
8. Hana: Keep your plants thriving with reminders, AI species identification, and personalized care instructions. Link
9. Hestia: Optimize your cookbook by saving recipes manually via website links or photos of notebooks and books. Cook hands-free with voice-controlled pacing, ensuring a seamless cooking experience. Link
10. Kurland: Access personalized curly hair care routines and let AI assist children in crafting stories set in the fictional Kurland.

Final Remarks

The collaboration between aiXplain and Apple Developer Academy | PUC-Rio was a resounding success, with students successfully integrating advanced AI features to enhance their projects. With overwhelmingly positive feedback and amazing apps to show, the collaboration showcased the practical benefits and transformative potential of aiXplain’s Swift SDK in the hands of creative and talented developers.

Aligning with Apple Developer Academy’s mission of fostering multidisciplinary teams, aiXplain has demonstrated its commitment to empowering the next generation of developers to make the world a better place through innovative AI applications.