# Manuel Cárdenas Prieto (Manu, manoletre)

> MS at Stanford. I fine-tune small models and build AI for learning. Previously Computer Science at TUM, math teacher, and EdTech founder.

Hi there! I'm Manu (Manuel Cárdenas Prieto), currently finishing an MS @ Stanford in Learning Design & Technology. Did every elective in AI/ML.

Previously: Math teacher, EdTech founder (raised $100k), Computer Science at TUM and part of CDTM Spring 21 class.

## What I studied at Stanford

I mostly wanted to learn about the intersection of AI and learning. I studied the science of learning, education entrepreneurship and hardware prototyping. Some of the things I worked on:

- CS229 (Machine Learning). [My project](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs229) predicted when a small LLM hallucinates from its activations and token probabilities.
- CS231n (Computer Vision). I [fine-tuned vision transformers on satellite images](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs231n) of every high school in Colombia.
- CS234 (Reinforcement Learning). I [trained a 3B model with SFT and DPO to write Manim animations](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs234), and ran into reward hacking.
- CME295 (Transformers & Large Language Models) and CME296 (Diffusion & Large Vision Models).

My master's project is [Coversatio](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#coversatio), an AI interview simulator. I'm also working on [a paper on when AI helps learning](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#ai-and-learning).

## Why small models

I got into small language models during my master's because of one question: what would a local tutor look like with no internet connection and little compute? A model that runs on the device you already have.

Since then I've been teaching small models to [play chess](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#chessllm), to [write math animations](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs234), and to [answer questions over a government's documents that can't leave the country](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#drc-explorer).

## Math teacher

To 11-year-olds and 16–17-year-olds. [What it taught me](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#teaching).

While I was teaching, I coded [Hablo.pro](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#hablopro) on my evenings and nights, a tutor you learn languages with by talking.

## Founder

I co-founded [Educo](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#educo) as ChatGPT came out. As the technical founder I built generative AI tools for schools, and we raised $100k from Platanus Ventures.

## From Colombia

I'm inspired by what I see in Colombia and by the many opportunities I got. That's why I work on education: I want more people to get those chances. It's behind projects like [funding tech courses for young Colombians](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#techdalo) and [predicting how well Colombian schools do from satellite images](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs231n).

## Languages

I speak Spanish, English and German fluently, and French pretty well. I'm learning Japanese, which is part of why I built [Hablo.pro](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#hablopro). My German was good enough to [teach math in it](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#teaching).

## Projects

Full write-ups: [https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md)

### Now

- [Coversatio: an AI interview simulator](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#coversatio)
- [DRC Explorer: a fully local AI agent (LFM 2.5 2.6b)](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#drc-explorer)
- [How AI assistance affects learning across Bloom's taxonomy](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#ai-and-learning)
- [ChessLLM: teaching small models to play chess](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#chessllm)
- [brief: a shared memory that keeps you accountable](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#brief)
- [explainer-video: A Claude Code skill that turns a paper into a narrated explainer video.](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#explainer-video)

### Stanford coursework

- [Teaching a small model to make math animations](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs234)
- [Predicting school performance from satellite imagery](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs231n)
- [Predicting when a small LLM hallucinates](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#cs229)

### Before Stanford

- [Hablo.pro: a voice-first language tutor](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#hablopro)
- [Educo: generative AI for teachers](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#educo)
- [Math teacher](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#teaching)
- [Techdalo: financing technical education for Colombian youth](https://www.manoletre.com/projects.md#techdalo)

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## Contact

- Email: [hi@manoletre.com](mailto:hi@manoletre.com)
- CV (PDF): [https://www.manoletre.com/cv.pdf](https://www.manoletre.com/cv.pdf)
- GitHub: [github.com/manoletre](https://github.com/manoletre)
- Hugging Face: [huggingface.co/manoletre](https://huggingface.co/manoletre)
- LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/manoletre](https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoletre)
- X: [@manoletre_](https://x.com/manoletre_)