MIT Sloan Fellows and Exec MBA Students Lead AI Innovation with Google Colab

CE‑Lab project paired students with Google engineers to improve how millions learn to code.

AI-assisted coding is rapidly changing the way people learn to code and how educators teach it. Google Colab, a cloud-based environment, supports millions of learners, developers, and researchers worldwide. As AI capabilities advanced, Google’s Colab team recognized that users—especially students—needed more customized AI support. Instead of prescribing solutions internally, they turned to students in MIT Sloan’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Lab, where a team of mid-career executives from both the MIT Sloan Fellows MBA and Executive MBA programs helped Google Colab explore possible solutions.

“Despite Google’s scale, the Colab team operates with the agility of a startup, open to new ideas, quick to iterate, and deeply dedicated to solving real user problems,” says MIT Sloan Fellow Sasa Phanitsombat, SFMBA ’25. “Their focus on user-centered innovation is something they actively practice.” 

Student-led discovery, MIT Sloan-style

Drawing on their professional backgrounds and MIT Sloan coursework in entrepreneurial strategy, experimentation, and customer discovery, the team worked together to set a research agenda, develop initial hypotheses, and design interview frameworks focused on how learners and educators use Colab. 

The team was hosted by Google Software Engineer and MIT alumnus George Whitfield, who is also an MIT Sloan lecturer and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship—a rare mix that highlights MIT Sloan’s strong industry ties. 

“With his deep connection to the Trust Center, Whitfield found a rare balance, offering just enough guidance, while trusting us with the freedom to explore and deliver unique insights,” says MIT EMBA student David Kawesi-Mukooza, EMBA ’26. “That trust made our work not only relevant but genuinely impactful.” 

From theory to impact

The MIT team’s findings about users—from beginners to advanced—revealed when and where AI assistance is most effective and guided strategies to boost adoption, improve usability, and customize features to support students' coding progress. Meanwhile, they studied how educators and teaching assistants introduce coding in academic settings, addressing concerns about academic integrity, students' overdependence on automation, and challenges in assessing learning when AI is involved. 

“This project was a unique chance to drive real impact at the intersection of AI and education,” says Prashasti Agrawal, SFMBA ’25. “Working with the Google Colab team allowed us to apply user-centric thinking to a product that reaches millions of learners worldwide. Seeing our research directly influence product development was incredibly rewarding—and truly embodied MIT’s Action Learning labs spirit: learning by doing, with tangible results.” 

For Kawesi-Mukooza, CE-Lab was one of the most meaningful experiences of his time at MIT Sloan. “Coming off Entrepreneurial Strategy and Disciplined Entrepreneurship, this course brought those lessons into a real-world context—showing how the resources and stability of an established organization can amplify innovation when paired with entrepreneurial thinking.” He adds, “This course perfectly exemplifies MIT’s ‘mind and hand’ approach—turning theory into action and making learning deeply practical.” 

Fellow team member Rafael Maldonado, SFMBA ’25, agrees. “It was a true 360º learning experience, from exploring a real-world problem to thinking critically about user needs and how AI can support them.” 

Student insights, real-world results

The timing of the project was perfect. According to Whitfield, the students’ findings closely matched product development already underway at Google, allowing the team to apply insights immediately. 

On May 20, 2025, shortly after CE-Lab finished, Whitfield’s team announced at Google I/O the launch of a reimagined, AI-first Google Colab experience. 

“Now,” Whitfield says, “Colab makes it easy for coders of all skill levels to get help from an AI agent to both iterate quickly while prototyping and debugging and dive deep when needed into advanced architectures and analysis.”

For the students, the experience reinforced what makes MIT Sloan stand out: students are not mere observers—they are trusted leaders, shaping products with global reach. Through CE-Lab, the MIT Sloan Fellows MBA and Executive MBA program continues to demonstrate how learning and impact come together by design.