Shaping young tech leaders to build ethical AI

AI boot camps like the CBSE-Intel AI Bootcamp at Apeejay School, Noida, empower students with hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies. By blending technical skills with real-world problem-solving and ethical awareness, these programmes inspire young minds to harness AI for meaningful, purpose-driven innovation aligned with global development goals.

In a candid interview, Navya Maheshwari of Class X talks about her experience at the boot camp.

Can you tell us about yourself?

I’m a high school student, in Class X, with a strong interest in Artificial Intelligence, programming, and design. I enjoy exploring how technology can be creatively used to solve real-world problems, especially those that impact students. I got interested in AI since my father is a software engineer, and watching him work sparked my interest in the field.

What were some of the core areas of AI that were covered during the boot camp?

The boot camp introduced us to the fundamentals of AI and machine learning, including both supervised and unsupervised learning. We also learnt about natural language processing (NLP), where we explored how to understand and generate human-like text. Additionally, we discussed ethical frameworks and the real-life applications of AI.

Which programming tools and libraries did you use, and how did they help in building AI models?

We mainly used Python and Jupyter Notebooks for programming. Jupyter made it easy to write and test code interactively. For libraries, we used Pandas and NumPy to clean and organise data and Matplotlib and Seaborn for intuitive data visualisation.

In what ways did the boot camp help you grow as a problem solver and an ethical thinker?

It taught me to approach problems methodically, starting with analysing the data and then designing the AI solution. It also emphasised the importance of ethical considerations, like avoiding bias and respecting user privacy while handling data.

What was your project about? Why did you choose that particular one?

My project focused on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of mental well-being. Given the rise in cyberattacks recently, I wanted to create something that could help people in such situations. My project analysed text chats — only with the user’s permission — to detect signs of distress. If a problem was detected, the system would notify the user and connect them to a counselor.

Did you face any challenges during the project? How did you overcome them?

One major challenge was dealing with incomplete and messy data, which initially led to inaccurate results. I overcame this by learning more about data cleaning techniques, especially using Pandas, as taught in the programme. Since I wanted to take ownership of the project myself, I didn’t take help even from my father.