This semester, students and postdocs across MIT were invited to submit ideas for the first-ever MIT Ignite: Generative AI Entrepreneurship Competition. Over 100 teams submitted proposals for startups that utilize generative artificial intelligence technologies to develop solutions across a diverse range of disciplines including human health, climate change, education, and workforce dynamics.

On Oct. 30, 12 finalists pitched their ideas in front of a panel of expert judges and a packed room in Samberg Conference Center.

MIT has a responsibility to help shape a future of AI innovation that is broadly beneficial — and to do that, we need a lot of great ideas. So, we turned to a pretty reliable source of great ideas: MIT’s highly entrepreneurial students and postdocs,” said MIT President Sally Kornbluth in her opening remarks at the event.

The MIT Ignite competition had 12 teams, and they were judged on their project’s innovative applications of generative AI, feasibility, potential for real-world impact, and the quality of presentation.

Finally, the 12 teams were invited to further develop their ideas with the support of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. ParrotGPT can help these teams by providing AI chatbot solutions that can assist in various areas of their startups, such as customer service, data analysis, and personal assistance.