AI Pitch Deck + prototype (75 pts)
OIDD 255X, Professor Tambe
A. Overview
Your final project may be completed alone, or in teams of two. The objective is to generate a pitch for a new AI-based business venture, and it must include a proof-of-concept (i.e. prototype). This can be related to a startup venture you are already associated with or are working on, but the prototype you build must be new for this project.
To execute this proof-of-concept, you can use any of the tools used or discussed in class (Weka or Teachable Machine or Excel or even tools that we mentioned but did not use, such as SageMaker, Watson Studio, AutoML, or a coding environment) or any of the growing number of tools available online.
Try to choose something that is of particular interest to you or your group. I would like you to demonstrate that you understand not only how an AI model is built, but also what the tradeoffs are, and what the weaknesses are, both technologically and in the marketplace.
The idea can be rooted in any industry you choose, and the proof-of-concept can be based on any data sets you can find.
B. Deliverables
Deliverables for the project are a slide deck (converted to pdf). You do not need to submit the algorithm, but your presentation should include screenshots of the working prototype, its output, and you should describe how it was built, including key decisions you made. Your deck should cover the following six topics, in addition to anything else you would like to discuss. The bullet points below are intended to be a guideline, but not exhaustive. Feel free to add additional points of emphasis as suits your product.
Value Proposition and Market
- What is the value that you will provide to your customers?
- Who is the ideal customer? How many of them are there? If relevant to your product, how do you retain customers?
Business model
- How is this product priced and how is it sold? How are customers charged?
- How will you get your product in front of your market? What are the sales channles?
- Who is the competition and how will you differentiate your product relative to this competition?
Solution and proof of concept
- Here, you showcase your prototype, including working output.
- How will you optimize the prediction model? What types of errors will you prioritize and why?
- Is the data for the prototype sufficient? If not, how will you collect better data for a full version?
- What are potential challenges from a product design/UI perspective?
Ethical considerations
- Is bias a significant concern? What form does this bias take? How will you address it?
- Are there any other concerning ethical implications of your product or service?
Regulatory risk
- What are the risk factors related to regulatory concerns, such as those concerning data privacy or loss of jobs?
- How will you address regulatory concerns?
The slide deck should be submitted through Canvas. (Please convert it to a .pdf before submitting.)
C. Grading Rubric
Grades are out of 75 points and are composed of the following elements:
- A brief 1-2 minute presentation showcasing your idea for feedback in class (5 pts)
- Are the value proposition and market definition easy-to-follow and compelling? (15 pts)
- Is the go-to-market strategy clear? (10 pts)
- Does the prototype provide clear evidence of product viability? (30 pts)
- Have the ethical and regulatory risks been carefully weighted and considered? (15 pts)
D. Some pitch deck resources