The UC Irvine ANTrepreneur Center is the campus hub for student innovation and entrepreneurial development. Located at the heart of UC Irvine, the Center provides programs, mentorship, events, Micro-Internships, maker resources, and access to tools and networks that support students at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey. With a focus on inclusivity, the Center aims to serve all UC Irvine students, especially first-generation and underrepresented individuals, empowering them to explore ideas, build confidence, and launch ventures.
At the intersection of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship lies a new kind of learning experience, one that empowers students to ideate, build, and launch with real-world impact. The ANTrepreneur Center is proud to offer its groundbreaking AI Innovation Course, a 10-week program designed to develop entrepreneurial confidence, critical thinking, and technical fluency, regardless of major, background, or career goals.
This course is not just for future startup founders. It is for any student looking to build professional skills, learn how to pitch ideas clearly, and gain hands-on experience working in ateam toward a real outcome.
Why This Course Matters
The AI Innovation Course gives students an actionable framework to turn ideas into impact. Every week, students explore tools and strategies that mirror the real-world startup process, from idea to pitch. The course is fast-paced, collaborative, and grounded in experiential learning.
Students from all majors are welcome, and no prior technical experience is needed. The ANTrepreneur Center specifically designed this course to bridge the gap for non-technical students, helping them access tools like AI, no-code platforms, and startup methodologies that are often out of reach.
The benefits of enrolling in the course go far beyond launching a business. “Whether students want to start a company, lead innovation at an organization, or simply become more confident in their ideas, this course gives them the real-world tools to get there,” says Ryan Foland, Director of the ANTrepreneur Center. “This is our third iteration of the course, and each year it gets better. We are changing at the rate and speed of AI and giving students the chance to apply what they are learning in a way that feels real.”
Additionally, the course aligns with the ANTrepreneur Center’s mission to support first-generation college students and underserved communities. By giving all students access to cutting-edge tools, mentorship, and a network of support, the course helps level the playing field.
“It is crucial that our students receive experiential learning when they need these skills the most,” says Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education. “AI will be involved in everyone’s future, and we know the ANTrepreneur Center is the place where students can explore, create, fail, and gain confidence with these necessary tools.”
Strategic Vision: UC Irvine’s Push Toward National Recognition in Entrepreneurship
The AI Innovation Course is a key part of the ANTrepreneur Center’s larger strategic plan to boost UC Irvine’s visibility as a top-ranked university for entrepreneurship. The Center is building pathways that integrate entrepreneurship across disciplines and showcase UC Irvine’s commitment to real-world innovation.
“UC Irvine as a whole is very innovative, and classes like this help make it known—not just on campus but across the nation and the world—that we are a school that should be recognized for entrepreneurship,” says Michelle Khine, Associate Dean, Professor, advisor to the ANTrepreneur Center, and a multiple-time founder. “The ANTrepreneur Center stands out by ensuring students from every academic background are empowered with the resources, confidence, and community they need to innovate and lead.”
Corporate Support That Moves the Needle
The course is made possible through generous campus and community support, including from members of the ANTrepreneur Center’s Corporate Circle, like Sunstone Management.
“Our support of the ANTrepreneur Center is because they are on the cutting-edge, and making sure that the next generation of leaders have access to the tools and experiences they need to become successful,” says Jayro Sandoval, Economic Development Manager and Managing Member at Sunstone. “Sunstone is a big supporter of early-stage entrepreneurship, especially here in Irvine, and our ability to contribute to this class helps move the needle in many ways.”
What Students Experience Week by Week
Each week is structured around a theme that supports real-world startup development:
Week 1: Ideation + Team Formation
Week 2: Using AI to Refine Your Problem
Week 3: Customer Discovery + Business Model Canvas
Week 4: AI Tools for Building, Creating, and Automating
Week 5: MVP Development + the 3-1-3 Pitch Framework
Week 6: Pitch Practice + AI-Powered Presentation Feedback
Week 7: Demo Day Best Practices + MVP Refinement
Week 8: AI Startup Panel Featuring Student Founders
Week 9: The Future of AI + Ethical Considerations
Week 10: Personal Branding + Funding 101 (LinkedIn audit + storytelling). The first week of December concludes with a public Demo Day open to the entire community.
Throughout the 10-week course, students will also learn about and have the opportunity to work with an array of practical AI tools to support their innovation journey. Students will have access to platforms for:
Ideation and research
Business model development
Prototyping and MVP building
Workflow automation
Content creation
UC Irvine’s own campus-built GPT, called ZOTGPT, developed for students and faculty, gives learners free access to enterprise-level generative AI. It mirrors the paid version of ChatGPT but is tailored specifically for academic and innovation use on campus.
“Each week, we balance foundational entrepreneurship with practical AI application,” says Foland. “Students walk away with a working MVP, a personal brand, a pitch video, and a Demo Day presentation, all created in just 10 weeks.”
What Students Are Saying
Student feedback on the course has been overwhelmingly positive. Here’s what students had to say about their experience:
“This class showed me that I don’t need to be a coder to build a product or start a company. I learned how to leverage AI and no-code tools to test real ideas quickly.”
“The AI tools we explored gave me a head start in my job interviews. I talked about building an MVP and using prompt engineering, and recruiters were impressed.”
“I never saw myself as an entrepreneur, but this class made me realize that entrepreneurship is really about problem solving. Now I’m working on a startup idea with my team.”
To learn more about the real-world impact of this course, check out our recent interviews with student teams from last year’s cohort:
Gillian Chen, Alina Yuan, Emily Gao Wang, and Kevin Li from SkinLife share how their AI-powered skincare concept evolved into a promising startup. Read the SkinLife interview.
Sakhi Patel and Shrey Modi from CuraVoice explain how their team used AI to tackle accessibility challenges in healthcare communication. Read the CuraVoice interview.
Leland Bartikofsky and Cristian Mendoza from Clera reflect on how the course helped them take their entrepreneurial mindset to the next level. Read the Clera interview.
Join the Journey
Interested in learning how the ANTrepreneur Center’s AI Innovation Course can help you accomplish your entrepreneurial and professional goals? There’s still time to enroll!
The AI Innovation Course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Register now on WebReg using course code: 87416.