HANGZHOU: It is summer break, but 13-year-old Yu Chenhao is spending five days of it learning about artificial intelligence (AI).He has travelled from Shanghai to Hangzhou to join 20 others at a camp held at the headquarters of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group.There, young attendees, aged between 12 and 18, spend hours at their laptops, working through PowerPoint slides and writing lengthy AI prompts and codes.When organisers call for a break to announce a tour of the building, many attendees are reluctant to stop. Some carry their laptops along, still tinkering with their projects as they walk.
“We came to the camp to learn how to use AI - so later on, we probably won’t be that anxious,” he told CNA of his working future.“Because (when) we know how to use it, and how to create value with it, we won't be eliminated.”
Twenty-one children aged 12 to 18 attended the five-day Young Founders AI Camp at Ant Group's headquarters in Hangzhou - the first such programme run by Ant Digital Technologies, the company's technology arm. (Photo: CNA/Tan Wen Lin)
Yu’s team project is a smart pillbox that reminds seniors to take their medicine, and the right dosage, on time.“We started by thinking about how we could help the elderly,” Yu said.“After filtering ideas and doing some questionnaires, we found that the elderly actually have quite a lot of problems around taking medicine - so we thought: can we help them take it more simply and effectively?”
