The summer before senior year is crunchtime for high schoolers applying to colleges. Many college-bound students will use the summer months to research campuses and get a jump on applications in order to improve their chances of getting into their dream school.
Those applications and all-important, deeply personal entrance essays can be difficult for any student to get through. But they can be particularly difficult for neurodivergent students and those in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) community. That was something Atlanta entrepreneur Bradley Dick experienced first hand while his son was applying to colleges. His son, who has autism, had in his head all the elements he wanted to include in his essay. But he struggled to get those ideas onto paper.
Dick thought there had to be a technological assistant that could help his son through the application process. So with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), he built a solution from the ground up.
zerodivide.ai, an Atlanta-based startup, officially launched this year as an AI-powered platform to empower individuals in the I/DD community. Its Cognitive Writing Assistant helps users unlock the thoughts and ideas in their head in order to write a compelling, personal essay.
The project is personal for Dick, but it has also become a family affair. His son, who inspired the platform, has been involved in the early testing process to ensure zerodivide.ai is the most efficient AI algorithm for high school students.
BUILDING ETHICAL AI
Now, you might be thinking: Is AI just writing these college essays?
Dick said zerodivide.ai is built intentionally differently than other generative AI writing tools. Instead of creating content, it ensures that a student’s ideas are front and center in the essay.
“AI writing and plagiarism is a major concern, and is prevalent in the existing AI writing toolset where the focus is on writing for the user. We specifically avoid doing any generative work over the users writings. We focus on collecting the ideas of the user through conversation, and outputting those ideas as directly as possible into a piece of writing. By keeping the focus on collecting and transcribing the users ideas in a way that is true to their own voice, short of the user inserting plagiarized content in the interview purposefully…there isn’t an opportunity for the AI to commit plagiarism,” he told Hypepotamus.
He added that zerodivide.ai will use automated content checkers to verify the platform does not display any harmful content, biased information, or details that are not age appropriate. It will also have a “human review process” to check for flagged content.
“Responsible AI development means using AI in a way that prevents uncontrolled or malicious information being given to the users,” Dick added. “We want to see a world where AI is a tool that we can trust, even with our children.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR ZERODIVIDE
Dick brings decades of technology experience to his new position in the AI startup world. Before launching zerodivide.ai, he was the Chief Information Officer at Resurgens Orthopaedics for twelve years, and held CTO and CIO roles at other tech companies.
Building alongside Dick is co-founder and CTO Steven Monroe, a San Francisco-based engineer.
Dick added that it has been “inspiring and humbling to see people come together around an idea I had to help my son.”
A few months after launch, the team is focused on growing the platform and raising its first round of funding. Despite the tough market conditions, Dick remains optimistic they can find the right investors for the early-stage company.
The team is also looking to add new audio-focused tools in order to help users with disabilities unlock their ideas across different mediums. Slated to be released in mid-2025, the Audio Companion Assistant will provide users interactive support when listening to audiobooks or podcasts. This can “ensure a seamless and enriched listening experience.”
Also on the startup’s roadmap is a Personalized Assistance & Navigation App to “redefine personal navigation” by “offering bespoke guidance that makes navigating both familiar and unfamiliar spaces simpler and more intuitive.”
The team is also looking to launch a foundation to “provide subsidized or complimentary couples counseling to parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” The foundation will be funded primarily through contributions from zerodivide and partner organizations and is designed to help “strengthen family bonds.”