What is artificial intelligence (AI)? Many know the version that helps you write an email, make a grocery list or summarize a meeting, but it is capable of so much more. From building a chat bot for people with disabilities to training an AI system to determine if someone is wearing a mask, students attending the North Carolina Math/Science Education Network (MSEN) Pre-College Program’s AI camp this summer got to learn firsthand about the scope of AI, its ethical uses and how to apply it to solve real world problems.

“It’s important that all students have exposure to the newest and the latest trends in terms of what’s going on, especially in the STEM field since we’re a STEM program,” said Braska Williams, MSEN director at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. “Our students should be exposed to that type of thing because it’s going to help them in their futures. They can kind of start thinking now about certain types of careers, certain types of majors.”

For the past 38 years, MSEN has provided STEM enrichment and college preparation for students from all backgrounds in grades six through 12. Their goal is to give students exposure to topics, experiences, careers and people that they are not likely to get otherwise in order to open their eyes to potential opportunities. 

This summer’s Demystifying AI brought together 48 students representing five counties to attend the camp July 7-11 around NC State’s campus. Students participated in field trips, interacted with AI experts and engaged in exciting hands-on projects where they used AI to find solutions. Additionally, this immersive camp offered information regarding NC State’s admission standards. For their final project, students had the opportunity to show their parents what they’d learned by either training an AI system to see whether or not someone has a mask on or building a chatbot to address a real-world problem.

“I feel like this camp, or just the program in general, is just a great opportunity for middle schoolers and high schoolers because I feel like it gives you a bit of everything,” said Ty Harris-Gulley, a rising junior at J.D. Clement Early College High School who has been part of MSEN since seventh grade. “In a sense, it gives you the academic side, but it also gives you the networking side of things, which I love about MSEN.”

Guest speakers were a highlight of camp. Experts Mike Babb and Amir Lawrence from the Friday Institute visited camp to teach students about the current landscape of AI and how to utilize it to work for them, ending with an open conversation about this growing technology.

“I think being a part of an AI camp like this is truly transformational, and I wish something like this was available when I was a kid,” said Lawrence, a cybersecurity analyst at the Friday Institute. “Through our presentation, students aren’t just getting valuable information regarding the history, current status and technology of AI. We’re taking the time to explain how AI intersects with larger concepts like capitalism, sociology, global warming, etc.”

“I think it is important to learn more about AI because it’s gonna become a bigger part of everyday life now,” said Skylar Richardson, a rising eighth grader at Ligon Magnet Middle School who is in her second year with MSEN. “I just think learning about it would just make it more accessible to me.”

MSEN aims to fill in the gaps for students seeking opportunities, even when it comes to emerging technologies like AI.

“Schools, at this point, are still not really sure of how they’re going to incorporate [AI] in their own curriculum,” said Williams. “So we wanted to get ahead of the game and help our students to have some more understanding about it. Be a little bit ahead of the curve.”

Lead MSEN instructor Corey White teaches technology and leads the MSEN program at Ligon Magnet Middle School. He’s taught MSEN students since 1994 and sees the value in programs like these.  

“In my 31 years, all the programs I’ve worked with…I have never seen another program so focused on not only exposure to technological systems but also communication skills,” said White. “And our kids, they get the whole gamut, not just solving real problems, not just thinking about problems, but also thinking about cultures and how cultures interpret problems, how cultures accept problems as being acceptable losses…but then how they look at it and how you communicate it so that everybody benefits through this. ”

White says he aims to pique students’ curiosity with this program, whether they question what they can do with AI personally or what career paths will prioritize having an AI skillset. In the end, though, he simply wants students to explore what AI is.

“The reason why I came to this AI camp is so I could just see what more there is to AI,” said Harris-Gulley. “Cause I feel like AI is such a broad topic, and it’s not new, but it’s new to the general public. So I would say, I just wanted to figure out what jobs could fall into AI and how AI is a part of the upcoming future.”