UniValue

SECOND PLACE

Claire Guo
10th Grade | High Technology High School (New Jersey)

What is UniValue?
UniValue AI is a web-based engine that lets students pick the specific factors they care about (e.g., engineering rankings or even the quality of local food) and then assign a weight to each one. It uses RoBERTa-based sentiment analysis to read thousands of community reviews so it can understand things like how safe a campus actually feels, not just what the stats say. This solves that huge problem where families feel pressured to focus only on static school rankings and instead helps us find the school that is actually the best fit.

What is the biggest challenge you faced during the competition, and how did you overcome it?
My biggest challenge was probably how to transform a useful tool into a real business plan. I overcame it by looking into how other companies manage to stay in business (e.g., ChatGPT). That led me to the 'Freemium' model, where the main features are free for everyone, but the deeper data is a paid upgrade.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned from competing in this AI entrepreneurship challenge?
The most valuable lesson I learned from this experience is that technology is just a tool humans use, and that it is important because it helps us solve everyday problems. Entrepreneurship is about having the ability to come up with real solutions using technology.

What sparked your interest in AI and entrepreneurship, and how do you see the two fields working together in the future?
In my opinion, the greatest thing about AI is its complexity and potential, while entrepreneurship is the way to apply that potential to improving people's everyday lives. In the future, I see AI being the engine that runs the vehicle and entrepreneurship being the steering wheel that drives it in the right direction. This way, society can benefit from the better sides of AI instead of worrying about it taking over their lives completely.

Did this competition influence your thoughts about studying AI, business or both in college?
This competition showed me that I don't have to choose between tech and business. I can do both. It’s really exciting to see how AI can be used to build something that actually helps people while also working as a real business.