Introduction
What is Pebbl?
Pebbl is an AI-powered learning companion and writing mentor built to fight the “brainrot” caused by overreliance on AI. Instead of outsourcing your thinking, Pebbl nudges you with smart questions, helping you dump, organize, and refine your thoughts into polished essays or academic drafts. It also includes a lecture note-taker: upload audio or video, and Pebbl quizzes you, chats about key points, and builds deep understanding. Voice input means you can brainstorm while walking, working out, or just vibing—perfect for neurodivergent learners like those with ADHD. Gamified milestones reward engagement and skill growth, keeping learning fun and active.
The app leverages cutting-edge AI technology and offline voice recognition to provide two primary learning modes:
Conversational Essay Development: Students speak their initial thoughts on a topic, and Pebbl's AI assistant asks intelligent follow-up questions to deepen their thinking. The entire conversation is then transformed into a polished academic draft.
Lecture Documentation: Students can record lectures with real-time transcription, then receive AI-generated overviews, detailed notes, comprehensive summaries, and flashcards for review.
What inspired it?
Recent research has raised alarm about AI’s damaging effect on cognitive skills: students relying too heavily on AI show lower brain engagement, lack of originality and lowered attention spans (Kosmyna et al., 2025). Our user research revealed that students feel overwhelmed, struggle with structuring ideas, and feel a sense of loss of ownership over their learning. Meanwhile, educators are observing the detrimental effects of mass AI overreliance while feeling helpless in terms of detecting it, and lacking healthy alternatives to suggest. This gap produced our solution: a truly and solely assistive AI tool that preserves your voice, grows your brainpower and makes learning genuinely enjoyable again. We hope to automate learning while promoting positive cognitive growth and individual originality!
Key benefits
Offline-First Design: Voice recognition works entirely offline using Vosk SDK
Privacy-Focused: Audio never leaves your device; only text is sent to AI
Customizable Output: Control draft tone, refinement level, and word count
Achievement System: Track your learning journey with milestone "Pebbles"
Modern UI: Built with Jetpack Compose and Material Design 3
Use cases
Essay Planning: Transform brainstorming sessions into structured drafts
Lecture Review: Never miss important lecture content with AI-generated notes
Exam Preparation: Use flashcards generated from lecture transcriptions
Research Documentation: Record research discussions and convert to academic format
Language Learning: Practice speaking while building written content
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