Introduction: A Hub of Innovation
At the UCI ANTrepreneur Center, innovation isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a way of life. As a hub for creativity, exploration, and cutting-edge student support, we are always looking for bold ways to integrate emerging technologies that enhance access, scale impact, and spark curiosity. Our latest experiment? Embracing artificial intelligence to meet students where they are. Online. Anytime.
ZotGPT and UCI’s AI Leadership
UCI has been at the forefront of campus-specific AI innovation. Thanks to the development of ZotGPT, a secure, campus-tailored suite of generative AI tools built by the UCI Office of Information Technology (OIT), students, staff, and faculty now have a safe way to explore and leverage AI in academic, operational, and creative contexts. With free access to multiple models, file uploads, extended context windows, and chat history, ZotGPT Chat is already empowering users across campus.
The ZotGPT ecosystem includes tools like:
- ZotGPT Chat for brainstorming, planning, and productivity
- ZotGPT API for researchers and developers
- ZotGPT ClassChat for faculty-curated course bots
- ZotGPT Creator for building custom AI assistants from your own materials
And that’s exactly what we used to build our newest team member: Peter’s Helper.
Why a Chatbot for the ANTrepreneur Center?
Not every student walks into our center. Some feel intimidated by the idea of entrepreneurship. Others don’t know what we offer. Yet thousands of students visit our website, searching for answers, guidance, and inspiration.
Meeting Students Where They Are
Many of those students first find us through social media. It might be an Instagram post, a reel, or a feature on a peer’s story. Others hear about us at orientations, class presentations, or during student organization outreach. In each case, we always point them to our website.
Now, it’s more than just a website. It’s a 24/7 digital front door to entrepreneurship. A chatbot is ready to support any student, any time, with personalized answers about our programs, resources, and how to get started.
This initiative also aligns with our larger strategic vision. As outlined in the UCI ANTrepreneur Center Strategic Plan, one of our core goals is to help elevate UCI into the Top 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs nationally by 2030. Creating and testing tools like Peter’s Helper demonstrates our commitment to building infrastructure that is scalable, inclusive, and rooted in innovation.
“We are definitely running at the speed of AI,” says Ryan Foland, Director of the UCI ANTrepreneur Center. “We’re bold in testing new technology. Not just to scale our operations but to make entrepreneurship more accessible to every student. We originally explored building our own AI chatbot, but the cost was prohibitive. As soon as we learned about ZotGPT Creator, we requested early access and were one of the first to develop and launch our own chatbot.”
Sarkis Daglian, Director of AI for UCI OIT, adds: “We love that the ANTrepreneur Center is at the front of the line to test out the new chatbot features. We are excited to help give more students real-time access to what they are looking for. As we know, entrepreneurs run their own schedules and we want to meet them where they are at. Even if that is 24 hours a day.”
Our vision? To create a personalized, conversational way for students to:
- Learn what entrepreneurship is
- Understand how the skills are transferable to any career
- Discover resources at the ANTrepreneur Center
- Tap into tools and support across campus and beyond
Building Peter’s Helper with ZotGPT Creator
ZotGPT Creator made it easy to bring our chatbot to life without writing a single line of code. With just a few key inputs, we trained Peter’s Helper on:
- Our website content
- Internal documents and FAQs
- Entrepreneurship fundamentals and UCI resources
“At first, I was a little intimidated by the idea of building a chatbot,” says Austin Chun, Operations Coordinator. “But once we explored the portal and thought through the user experience, we created something we’re proud of. At the ANTrepreneur Center, we’re always asking: how can we use AI to better serve students and streamline operations? It’s exciting to be a testing ground for these new technologies.”
With ZotGPT Creator, we were able to:
- Upload and curate our own knowledge base
- Customize the tone and scope
- Configure safety guardrails
- Monitor usage with built-in analytics
What Are AI Chatbots and Why Do They Matter?
AI chatbots are conversational tools that use language models to answer questions, provide recommendations, and assist with tasks. Instantly. In higher education, they’re increasingly used for:
- 24/7 student support
- Academic advising and FAQ automation
- Research assistance
- Administrative operations
The difference? Our chatbot is built by UCI, for UCI students. And it’s trained specifically on what matters to our campus community.
Looking Ahead: Continuous Improvement and Campus Impact
We know Peter’s Helper won’t be perfect. That’s not the point. What matters is that we’re learning. We’re exploring. And we’re providing feedback to OIT that will help improve ZotGPT Creator for other divisions, departments, and even classrooms.
“Our goal is to serve as many UCI students as possible. Having a chatbot trained on our resources allows us to support students in real time. Day or night. Whether our center is open or not,” says Foland.
Try It Now
Curious? Visit https://antrepreneur.uci.edu and meet Peter’s Helper. Ask a question. Explore the resources. And help us shape the future of how AI supports student innovation at UCI.
We’re just getting started.