In Fall Quarter 2024, the UC Irvine ANTrepreneur Center launched their brand-new AI Innovation Course. The AI Innovation Course was designed to introduce students to the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academia, professional industries, and entrepreneurship. This project-based course challenged students to develop AI-driven business ideas, implement AI tools in real-world applications, and present their projects in a clear, impactful manner. The AI Innovation Course culminated in a Final Demo Day, where students showcased their projects for a chance to win prizes.
The inaugural AI Innovation Course was incredibly successful, with 224 students enrolling and actively participating throughout the nine-week course. To highlight some of the incredible student innovators who participated in the course and showcased their final projects at Demo Day, Ryan Foland, ANTrepreneur Center Director, invited these ANTrepreneurs for a series of illuminating interviews.
In this interview, Ryan sits down with UC Irvine students Gillian Chen (Applied and Computational Mathematics and Quantitative Economics), Alina Yuan (Art and Psychological Science), Emily Gao Wang (Computer Science and Software Engineering), and Kevin Li (Computer Science) to learn more about their startup Skinlife.
Skinlife is an AI-powered skincare and habit-tracking app designed to help users improve their skin and overall well-being. By leveraging advanced AI analysis, users can receive personalized skincare advice by simply taking a photo. Unlike traditional skincare apps that focus on product recommendations, Skinlife encourages sustainable self-care habits through a gamified experience. The app features a habit-tracking system where users can build and maintain healthy routines with the help of Nova, a virtual guide. Users earn progress points as they achieve their goals, making self-care more engaging and rewarding.
Skinlife is a mission-driven enterprise, pledging to donate 30% of its profits to support skin cancer patients, easing their financial burden and improving their recovery chances. With its combination of AI-driven insights, gamification, and social impact, Skinlife transforms skincare into a fun, engaging, and meaningful journey.
Ryan: Ahoy everyone, and thank you for meeting with me today! Can you please start by introducing yourselves?
Gillian: Hi, I’m Gillian. I’m a Mathematical Finance and Economics student with experience applying advanced mathematics and programming to real-world problems through private equity and finance internships. I’m proficient in Python, R, SQL, and MATLAB, and also have expertise in financial modeling, problem-solving, and data-driven decision-making. I’m a proactive leader with entrepreneurial experience who has founded and scaled a successful e-business platform and has a passion for leveraging data insights to achieve organizational goals.
Alina: Hi, I’m Alina, a designer specializing in graphic, product, and UI/UX design with a passion for creating innovative solutions that enhance well-being and foster social impact. As a double major in Art and Psychological Science, I integrate design principles with a deep understanding of human behavior to craft intuitive and engaging user experiences. Through my work in marketing, research, and product development, I’ve led UI/UX initiatives, optimized user engagement strategies, and co-authored research on biomimetic robotics. Whether it’s designing digital interfaces, branding, or launching socially impactful products, I always strive for user-centered, research-driven design that resonates on a meaningful level.
Emily: Hi, I’m Emily. I’m a Software Engineer and Student Researcher passionate about machine learning, computer vision, and building real-world software solutions. I’m currently pursuing double majors in Software Engineering and Computer Science, and I specialize in intelligent systems. My experiences range from building scalable software solutions to conducting research in computer vision and multi-agent systems. I am passionate about solving complex problems through technology and continuously exploring new ideas that bridge research and real-world applications.
Kevin: My name is Kevin, and I am a Computer Scientist and AI Researcher passionate about machine learning, computer vision, and data-driven decision-making. I’m currently studying Computer Science, and I have worked on projects ranging from AI-powered health monitoring and out-of-domain detection in computer vision to robotics autonomy and recommendation systems. My experience spans research and development in intelligent systems, 3D modeling, and software engineering, with a focus on building innovative, human-centered technology that bridges research with real-world applications.
Ryan: Awesome, it’s good to meet you! Can you explain what inspired you to create Skinlife and what problem it looks to solve?
Gillian: We created Skinlife because, honestly, who hasn’t struggled with their skin at some point? We’ve all had those days: waking up, looking in the mirror, and feeling frustrated because of unexpected breakouts, dullness, or dryness. It’s not just about appearance; the state of our skin affects how we feel about ourselves.
The more we talked to people, the more we realized that many of us are unhappy with our skin, not because we don’t try, but because skincare can feel overwhelming. There are endless products, conflicting advice, and routines that are so hard to stick to. Even when we know what we should be doing—drinking enough water, wearing sunscreen, getting enough sleep—it’s easy to fall off track.
That’s where Skinlife comes in. We didn’t want to create just another skincare app that tells you to buy expensive products. Instead, we wanted to make skincare feel simple, fun, and actually sustainable. By combining AI-powered skin analysis with habit-building tools, Skinlife helps users understand their skin and build the daily habits needed to improve it.
At the end of the day, great skin isn’t about quick fixes—it’s about consistency. And we wanted to build something that truly supports people in that journey. Because when your skin is at its best, you feel more confident, and when you feel confident, it reflects in every part of your life. That’s the real goal of Skinlife.
Ryan: Let’s talk more about Skinlife’s use of AI. How does the AI-powered skin analysis work?
Emily: At this stage, we’re in the early design and planning phase, and one of our core goals is to integrate AI technology to deliver personalized skincare recommendations. The envisioned system would begin by analyzing the photos users upload to detect skin concerns such as acne, dryness, and uneven tone. This analysis would be supported by a curated database of labeled skin condition images, allowing the AI model to identify and classify different skin issues accurately.
Once the image is processed and concerns are identified, we plan to use a language generation model to generate personalized, easy-to-understand recommendations for users. Our focus is not just on providing analysis, but on helping users make sense of their skin conditions and take actionable steps toward improvement. While the AI functionality is still under development, we’ve prioritized building a strong foundation through UI/UX design and system planning to ensure that our future implementation of AI will be both effective and user-centered.
Ryan: What AI technologies power Skinlife, and how do they enhance the experience?
Kevin: Skinlife uses AI facial recognition and image analysis to scan the user’s face using their uploaded photos. Our AI can detect skin problems such as acne, enlarged pores, dullness, etc., and provide personalized skincare recommendations based on the results. Skinlife also uses AI-driven habit tracking to provide users with reminders and suggestions on drinking water, exercising, and getting enough sleep. This app combines this with gamification to make skincare more like a fun challenge than a boring routine.
Ryan: What challenges do people face in building skincare routines, and how does Skinlife help? How does Skinlife turn skincare and habit-building into an engaging and rewarding experience?
Alina: The most pressing issue we aim to address is the lack of consistency and motivation when it comes to sticking to a routine, as results often take a long time to achieve. We address this issue through gamification strategies such as progress tracking, achievements, and visual rewards to keep users engaged and motivated.
Additionally, many people also face confusion with skincare strategies and have difficulty tracking progress in their routines. Through the AI skincare analysis, users can receive detailed and personalized recommendations based on their unique skin condition, eliminating confusion about choosing routines or products. Based on this analysis, our app generates tracking logs for various habits and lifestyle factors to show visual progress over time.
Gillian: We designed Skinlife to make healthy habits feel fun and rewarding. Instead of just reminding you to take care of your skin, we turn the whole process into an interactive experience. In the app, you have a universe of planets, each representing different habits like hydration, exercise, and skincare. Every time you complete a habit, your planets grow, evolve, and unlock new achievements. It’s a way to see your progress in a way that’s visual, satisfying, and motivating.
And we don’t just throw generic reminders at you. Skinlife’s AI tailors your routine based on your skin’s needs. It gives you personalized skincare recommendations, tracks your hydration levels, and even suggests small lifestyle tweaks that make a difference. Over time, you start noticing real changes—not just in your skin but also in your overall health and confidence.
What makes Skinlife special is that it doesn’t feel like work. Instead of forcing yourself to follow a rigid routine, you actually want to keep going because you can see your progress and feel the results. It’s not about perfection—it’s about creating small, sustainable changes that add up to something big.
Ryan: What makes Skinlife different from other skincare apps?
Gillian: Most skincare apps either analyze your skin or try to sell you products. But here’s the problem—just knowing what’s wrong with your skin doesn’t mean you can fix it and buying products doesn’t guarantee results. The real secret to healthy skin isn’t a quick fix. It’s long-term habits, and that’s exactly where most people struggle.
That’s why we created Skinlife. We don’t just analyze your skin; we help you build the habits that actually improve it. Instead of just giving recommendations, we focus on the key factors that make a real difference—hydration, sleep, diet, exercise—and we turn them into something fun and rewarding.
With Skinlife, your habits grow and evolve just like a little universe. When you drink enough water, get enough sleep, or stay consistent with your skincare, your personal planets become more vibrant and beautiful. It’s not just about tracking habits—it’s about seeing real progress in a way that keeps you motivated. It’s a system that helps you actually change and makes that journey feel exciting and effortless. You won’t have to force yourself to be disciplined because you’ll want to keep going once you see the results.
Ryan: What challenges did you face while developing Skinlife, and how did you overcome them?
Emily: Since we’re still in the early design phase, the biggest challenges we’ve run into so far have been around planning for technical stuff we’ll need to tackle later. One of the main concerns is definitely user privacy. Because our app will involve users uploading photos of their skin, we’ve been really focused on thinking through how to protect that data. Making sure people feel safe using our app is super important, so we’ve started researching secure ways to handle and store that kind of sensitive information.
Another big challenge is preparing to build the computer vision part of the app. For that, we’ll need a solid dataset of skin photos that we can use to train the model. That’s not something we can just grab off the internet, we want to make sure it’s high-quality and appropriate for what we’re trying to do. We’re also still figuring out which generation model we’d eventually use to turn the analysis into personalized skincare recommendations inside the app.
So while we haven’t built out those features yet, identifying these challenges early has helped us plan ahead. That way, once we’re ready to move from design to development, we already have a clear idea of what we’re up against and how to approach it.
Ryan: If you could go back and change anything about the development process, what would it be?
Kevin: One thing we would change is doing more user testing early on. Testing the prototype with real users sooner would have helped us refine the design and improve the user experience before finalizing it.
Ryan: How did the AI Innovation Course help shape your idea and refine your product?
Alina: The AI Innovation Course played a key role in refining Skinlife, enhancing our AI-powered features, strengthening our business model, and improving user engagement. The Course emphasized AI’s role in augmenting human capabilities, guiding us to expand beyond skin analysis to a holistic wellness approach that integrates habit tracking and gamification.
It also helped us craft a stronger pitch, focusing on the problem we solve rather than just our technology, making our message more compelling. Through structured feedback and mentorship, we refined our freemium-to-premium model, aligning monetization with user value while reinforcing our social impact mission of donating 30% of profits to skin cancer patients.
The Course also encouraged strategic growth and funding strategies, leading us to explore startup competitions, industry partnerships, and scalable monetization models. Ultimately, it helped Skinlife evolve into a more comprehensive AI-driven wellness platform, making self-care engaging, sustainable, and impactful.
Ryan: What was the Demo Day experience like for you, and what kind of feedback did you receive?
Alina: The Demo Day experience was both exciting and insightful, providing valuable feedback that helped refine Skinlife’s AI-driven features, business model, and market positioning. Judges and investors praised our AI-powered skin analysis, user interface, and gamified habit tracking, recognizing its potential to stand out in the skincare and wellness space. However, they encouraged us to further refine our pricing strategy, emphasizing the importance of a sustainable freemium-to-premium model.
Experts we spoke to also recommended exploring partnerships with dermatologists, health organizations, and AI research teams to strengthen credibility and scalability. Additionally, while the audience loved our gamification system, they suggested further testing to ensure long-term user engagement. But overall, I think Demo Day validated Skinlife’s potential as a transformative AI-driven wellness app.
Ryan: How do you see Skinlife evolving in the future?
Emily: In the future, we can see Skinlife progressing through the use of wearable technology for real-time skin monitoring, as well as augmented reality capabilities for immediate feedback on skin care results. At the same time, AI technology can be combined with other genetic testing data to provide a more accurate analysis of skin health and the prediction of possible future skin problems and diseases. We can also envision a future where Skinlife utilizes health data generated from other fitness and health trackers to create more personalized skin care routines that adapt to changes in overall health.
Inspired by the Skinlife team’s journey and interested in the other ideas coming out of the AI Innovation Course? Visit our News Articles webpage to keep up with the latest interviews, professional insights, and student success stories.
Want help developing your business idea? Then visit the ANTrepreneur Center website to learn more about programming, speaker series, Micro-Internships, funding, and more. You can also learn more about the Center’s collaborations with Blackstone LaunchPad, Tech Coast Angels, Tech Coast Venture Network, OC Startup Council, and SoCal Celebrates Entrepreneurship. Keep up with the Center’s latest news by following them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.