Twins’ History of Entrepreneurship Leads to AI Classroom Innovation

Daivik and Shrenik Patel, headed for graduate programs at Cambridge and Oxford, created SmartSlides to help turn lecture slides into high-quality educational videos

When Honors College seniors Daivik and Shrenik Patel created SmartSlides, they were simply trying to solve a problem for their mentor, computer science professor Ananda Gunawardena.

"We were going back and forth about the types of tools he wished existed, and one was a way to create educational content in a more seamless way, instead of having to set up a space, record the content, re-record if you mess up, edit the content and then upload it. Pursuing that is how SmartSlides was born," says Shrenik.

SmartSlides is a web-based tool that allows educators to transform their learning materials into educational videos. It works by turning the user's slides or notes into a script that can then be tweaked by the user and then visualized into a video in a matter of minutes.

"What used to take Professor Guna 5 to 10 hours to do he can now do in about 15 minutes," explains Shrenik. "And it isn't just for full lectures, either. He uses it a lot to create supplemental learning materials for the students. Because it takes him so much less time, he has the time to create even more options," Shrenik continues.

In addition to script editing, which is where the bulk of edits happen in the process, SmartSlides users can create different versions of the same material to address different learning styles, grade levels, depth of information, style and tone, such as storytelling or academic, and even different languages. Instructors can even opt to clone their voice, or pick one from the catalog, to match their pace and cadence.

"Shrenik and Daivik didn't just build a useful tool - they built a bridge between human creativity and AI capability. SmartSlides is already saving creators and companies enormous time, but its real promise is bigger: an ecosystem where personalized, on-demand video learning becomes the norm, not the exception. I couldn't be prouder of what they've accomplished," says Gunawardena.

"It's not just helpful for the instructors, but for the students, too," says Daivik. "Having access to extra materials that can take the time to break something down in more time than a lecture or class can make a difference in how they learn," he continues.

SmartSlides has been tested by more than 50 professors at Rutgers and at other universities and community colleges around the country, creating over 1,300 videos so far. As they continue to perfect the platform, their focus is on expanding the tool's use.

"We just had a webinar with a K-12 school district, and they seemed super excited to be able to utilize something like this in their curriculum, so we are definitely looking forward to bringing this to more people who can use it," says Daivik.

The platform is low cost, with the first few prompts offered for free depending on length. The goal is to lower the barrier for educators who want to create supplemental learning materials but may not have the time, tools, or technical background to do so.

"We want this tool to be as accessible as possible, which is why we designed it this way," says Shrenik.

The twins' journey to SmartSlides started in high school, when they were still figuring out how to turn their curiosity and drive into something useful

"We had an Amazon store that we sold on. We worked with the New Jerey Board of Education to push a sustainability curriculum to our school district. We also tried writing a self-help book. We were kind of all over the place," explains Daivik. "We had good grades and this drive to improve the world in some way, but we didn't really know how yet."

Once admitted to Rutgers, the computer science and mathematics double majors in the School of Arts and Sciences found themselves working on a project called Code Bench their first year.

Code Bench, a data science education tool created and used by the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers-New Brunswick, is an AI-powered, scalable, and affordable learning and content management system that simplifies AI course management, offers expert-developed AI learning content, incorporates AI learning assistants, and adapts to various institutions to meet the growing demand for AI education and training. The program was awarded $50,000 through the 2024 Grossman Innovation Prize, awarded by the Rutgers SAS Office of the Executive Vice Dean and Interdisciplinary Programs.

"Code Bench feels like what happens when AI enters the classroom in a helpful way," says Shrenik. "Because AI makes knowledge so accessible, students don't have the same friction with learning as they used to. While you can learn at your own pace, it might be harder to retain what you learn because you don't struggle with it as much. So, I think initiatives like Code Bench are the first step in giving students a glimpse of how to learn with AI," adds Daivik.

The Patels have also won 10 Hackathons - 24-36 hour competitions where students represent their university and work to build a web-app/app that solves a real problem. They developed a lightweight memory system for conversational agents that organizes information into episodic, semantic, and procedural memory; worked on CacheFlow, a system built for efficient long-form video understanding; and presented their research at multiple conferences, including workshops at NeurIPS and ICLR, some of the most prestigious, international AI conferences in the world.

While their time at Rutgers was primarily spent pursuing their research endeavors, the Patels were able to end their time on a more personal note: addressing their graduating class at the Honors College convocation ceremony.

"It was such a special experience to deliver a joint commencement address," states Shrenik. "It was one of the moments I'll cherish for a long time because it was the culmination of all the work we did in high school, in college, the lessons we've learned from summer internships as well as the research we're doing."

"It was also a full circle moment because not only were our parents able to be there, but we were able to surprise them with the speech," adds Daivik. "Our parents worked hard to give us the space to learn and flourish. We feel a responsibility now to use that gift to do something meaningful, not only for them, but for society, too."

As they prepare for the next steps in their journey, with Daivik planning to pursue a research-driven master's (MPhil) in artificial intelligence at the University of Cambridge and Shrenik planning to pursue a doctorate in computer science through a fully-funded scholarship to the University of Oxford, the twins brace for the reality of living apart for the first time in their lives.

"It's going to be new to not be together since we have been our whole lives, but I think it will be for the better. We will be able to develop different networks of talented people who will help us grow," says Shrenik. "It will also help us grow and develop more of a sense of self. And when we are done with our respective studies, we will come together again to solve new problems," adds Daivik.