Climate Innovation CoalitionThinking with AI, not through it.
CIC pairs students in the Climate Transformation Challenge™ with volunteer mentors who help them use AI as a thinking partner — sharpening their own reasoning instead of outsourcing it.
What the Program Is
The AI Companion Project is CIC's mentorship initiative inside the Climate Transformation Challenge™. Every student team is matched with a mentor for the length of the Challenge, and the two work together on the team's actual climate project using AI tools as part of the process.
The goal is not faster answers. It is better thinking: mentors are trained to help students question AI output, defend their own reasoning, and treat the tool as a collaborator rather than a substitute for judgment.
How It Works
The mentorship runs alongside each team's Challenge project, in three stages.
Matching
Teams are paired with a mentor at the start of the Challenge, based on their project focus and the mentor's background.
Working Sessions
Mentor and team meet as the project develops, using AI tools together on research, framing, and problem solving.
Reflection
Students learn to evaluate what the AI gives back, explain their own conclusions, and show their reasoning at judging.
Who the Mentors Are
Mentors are volunteers: local professionals, SJSU faculty and students, and community members who care about how young people learn to think alongside AI.
Volunteer Led, By Design
Every mentor gives their time. CIC's founding team, drawing on Gregory Feist's research in psychology and creativity, trains mentors in facilitation — not in AI use alone — so sessions stay focused on the student's thinking rather than the tool.
Where It Fits
The AI Companion Project sits inside CIC's broader mission: turning student agency into cultural change through social science, youth innovation, and evidence-based communication.
Get Involved
Mentor a team, or bring the Climate Transformation Challenge™ to your campus.