WASHINGTON, D.C. (WVLT) – A group of elementary school students from East Tennessee is among the finalists in this year’s Presidential A.I. Challenge, a national competition designed to encourage young people to develop artificial intelligence solutions for real-world problems.
The competition began with more than 20,000 teams from across the country, but only about 40 advanced to the finals in Washington, D.C. Among them is a team from Alcoa Intermediate School near Knoxville.
The students’ project focuses on helping classmates better understand and complete their homework through an artificial intelligence-powered tutoring tool.
“We found that a lot of students struggled with their homework, so we wanted to create a homework helper app that’s basically a built-in tutor for students so that grades go up and they’re more successful,” said fifth-grader Ayden Taverna.
Fourth-grader Aaron Gallagher said the goal is not simply to provide answers, but to provide helpful tips and promote time management.
“To make sure kids understand their homework, not just get the answers, but to understand their homework and to do their homework on time,” Gallagher said.
The students spent months working on the project through their school’s A.I. club, building a prototype on Google’s Gemini platform. Along the way, they learned coding and software development skills while refining their idea.
“We had to code the mainframe of what we wanted, then we just added little things and started tweaking around with it,” said fifth-grader Emma Connor. “It was really fun and interesting. My teammates helped me a lot with it.”
Students said the development process came with challenges.
“It was very difficult at first especially, but once we found that sweet spot of where that prototype needed to be, it all sorted itself out,” said fifth-grader Ryker Cochran.
Advancing from state competition to regional competition and ultimately the national finals was a major accomplishment for the team.
“I’ve got something to strive for, and it’s nice to have that feeling that I’m representing more than myself,” Cochran said.
Teachers involved with the project said the experience also gave students an opportunity to learn about the strengths and limitations of artificial intelligence.
“As an educator it was very exciting to see them step through the problem-solving process to find the right answer,” said advisor Hope McDonald. “We talked about the limitations and the biases, so the kids learned right off the bat, you have to have human oversight.”
The Presidential A.I. Challenge aims to inspire students and educators to use artificial intelligence responsibly while developing solutions to community problems. The winning team will receive a $10,000 prize for their school.
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