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AI YOUTH LABProject Academy

Fall 2026 cohort — applications open

AI is moving faster than any classroom.

Some students will wait.

Until AI becomes just another school subject.

Others will start building now.

8 weeks. One real project. In English.

Daily live classes for ambitious students aged 9–15.

They won't just use AI. They'll command it — like engineers.

AI Youth Lab.

For young builders ready for what comes next.

Ages
9–15
Format
8-week cohort
Schedule
Daily live classes
Class size
Small group
Mentors
Silicon Valley practitioners
Weeks 9–12
Silicon Valley immersion

What We Actually Teach

The AI engineering mindset — the skill that outlasts every tool

Tools change monthly; this year's tricks are obsolete by next year. We don't teach button-clicking. We teach the way of thinking that never expires: how engineers command AI.

“The hottest new programming language is English.”
Andrej Karpathy — founding member of OpenAI, former Director of AI at Tesla

This is why we teach in English: it's no longer just a school subject — it's the language you command AI with.

01

Decompose

Break a big idea into steps an AI can execute — the first instinct of every engineer facing a hard problem.

02

Specify

The prompt is the new code. Turn a vague thought into instructions an AI cannot misunderstand — in English.

03

Iterate

The first version is never good enough. Rewrite the prompt, compare outputs, improve — discipline beats talent.

04

Verify

AI gets things wrong with total confidence. Check facts, question outputs, argue from evidence.

05

Judge

Know what good work looks like — and push the AI until it meets your standard. In the AI era, taste is leverage.

These five habits work for homework, for research, for building a company — and no model update can ever devalue them.

Why AI Youth Lab

Not another AI tool class. A real project lab.

Most AI classes for kids teach tools. We run a structured lab where students turn curiosity into finished, presentable work — with real practitioners in the room.

Led by Real Practitioners

Curriculum designed and reviewed by engineers, researchers, and product experts with experience at leading AI and technology companies — people building the tools your child will grow up with.

Built Around Projects

Every student ships a real project — not a certificate of attendance. Eight weeks of structured building culminate in a Demo Day presentation reviewed by guest mentors.

English-First Learning

Instruction is in English, preparing students to think, present, and collaborate in the global language of technology — a durable advantage for international school and study-abroad paths.

Safe AI Use for Kids

Teacher-guided AI use with clear guardrails: critical thinking over copy-paste, fact-checking over blind trust, parent visibility over black boxes. No homework-writing, ever.

Program Tracks

Two tracks. One standard: real work.

Placement is by age, English comfort, and interest — confirmed during admissions.

Young students in a classroom working together

Ages 9–11

Junior Creator Track

For curious beginners who love stories, images, and ideas. Students turn imagination into real, presentable work — no coding background required. The engineering habits — decompose, specify, iterate — take root here, wrapped in creativity.

What students build

  • AI storybook
  • AI-illustrated presentation
  • Creative mini website
  • Demo Day presentation
Teenagers collaborating around laptops

Ages 12–15

AI Builder Track

For students drawn to technology, products, and research. Students go deeper — prompt engineering, AI-assisted coding, and prototyping — and finish with portfolio-grade work.

What students build

  • AI app prototype
  • Research presentation
  • AI-assisted coding project
  • Personal project page

The 8-Week Journey

From first prompt to Demo Day

A deliberate arc: foundations first, then creation, then a real build, then a real audience.

  1. 1

    Week 1: AI Foundations & Safety

    Output: My AI Learning Map

  2. 2

    Week 2: Prompt Thinking

    Output: Personal AI Assistant Prompt Pack

  3. 3

    Week 3: AI Storytelling & Research

    Output: AI-supported story or mini research report

  4. 4

    Week 4: AI Image, Design & Multimodal Creation

    Output: Visual identity for the final project

  5. 5

    Week 5: AI Presentation & Communication

    Output: Project pitch deck draft

  6. 6

    Week 6: AI Coding / No-Code Prototyping

    Output: Working mini prototype

  7. 7

    Week 7: Final Project Build

    Output: Final project, ready to present

  8. 8

    Week 8: Demo Day with Guest Mentors

    Output: Demo Day presentation · Certificate · Personal project page

Weeks 9–12 · Optional

Then come to Silicon Valley — and learn where it's being built

After Demo Day, graduates can join an optional four-week on-site immersion in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tuition is $0 for AI Youth Lab graduates — families cover travel and accommodation only.

  • On-site project studio in the Bay Area — daily sessions continue in person
  • Guided visits to iconic tech campuses and landmarks (visitor-accessible areas)
  • University tours: Stanford and UC Berkeley
  • In-person workshops and fireside chats with our mentors
  • A final live showcase, presented in the Valley
  • Small chaperoned groups — parents are welcome to travel along

Families arrange and cover flights, visas, lodging, and insurance. We issue invitation letters immediately upon enrollment to support visa applications, and our visa coordinator guides you through the process. Seats are limited per cohort and confirmed during admissions.

$0 tuition

for cohort graduates

What Students Build

Finished work, not worksheets

Every cohort ends with real, presentable projects. Examples below show the kind of work students produce.

AI StorybookAge 10 · Junior Creator

Ocean Guardians — An AI-Illustrated Storybook

Sample project concept

A 24-page illustrated storybook about marine conservation, written and art-directed by the student with AI as a creative collaborator — every fact checked against real sources.

“What impressed me was the revision process — she rejected the AI's first drafts and pushed for better ones. That's real creative direction.”

AI App PrototypeAge 13 · AI Builder

StudyBuddy — A Homework Planner Prototype

Sample project concept

A working app prototype that helps students plan revision schedules. Built with AI-assisted coding, tested with real classmates, presented with a live demo.

“He scoped it like an engineer: cut features, shipped the core, demoed it live. Exactly the instinct we try to teach.”

AI Research ReportAge 14 · AI Builder

How Do Recommendation Algorithms Shape What We Watch?

Sample project concept

A mini research project analyzing how recommendation systems influence viewing habits, with an original survey of 40 students and an English research presentation.

“A genuinely good research question, honest about its limitations. Better methodology than some undergrad work I've reviewed.”

AI WebsiteAge 11 · Junior Creator

Lunar Base One — An Interactive Science Website

Sample project concept

An interactive website teaching younger kids about living on the Moon, with AI-generated illustrations, quizzes, and a narrated tour — all in English.

“Clear structure, great visual consistency, and he explained every AI tool choice he made. Confident work.”

Mentors

Learn from people building the future of AI

Daily classes are taught by our instructors; guest mentors join scheduled sessions, review student projects, and sit on the Demo Day panel.

Meet the Mentors
Daniel Reyes

Daniel Reyes

Senior Machine Learning Engineer

OpenAI

Curriculum Advisor · Demo Day Reviewer

Sarah Mitchell

Sarah Mitchell

Staff Software Engineer

Google DeepMind

Guest Speaker · Project Mentor

Marcus Johnson

Marcus Johnson

AI Product Lead

Meta

Guest Speaker · Demo Day Panel

Emily Carter

Emily Carter

Research Scientist

Anthropic

Guest Speaker · Curriculum Advisor

Mentors and guest speakers participate in their personal capacity. Company names and work backgrounds are shown for identification only and do not imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation by their employers.

What Families Say

Parents who moved early

My son has taken coding classes since he was seven. This was the first time he built something he couldn't stop talking about at dinner. The mentor Q&A alone was worth the tuition.
Parent of an AI Builder student, 13 · Shanghai
We chose it for the English immersion and kept it for the standards. No cartoons, no games disguised as learning — a real syllabus, real deadlines, and a real audience at the end.
Parent of a Junior Creator student, 10 · Singapore
Her Demo Day presentation — in English, to engineers from companies I read about in the news — is now the first thing on her international school application portfolio.
Parent of an AI Builder student, 14 · Seoul
I sat in on the Week 1 safety class out of curiosity. They spent forty minutes teaching kids how to catch AI making things up. That's when I knew we'd chosen the right program.
Parent of a Junior Creator student, 9 · Hong Kong
As someone who works in tech myself, I was skeptical of 'AI for kids' courses. The curriculum here is the real thing — my daughter now explains prompt engineering to me at dinner.
Parent of an AI Builder student, 12 · Beijing
The time zones actually work — evening classes in Korea, real Silicon Valley engineers on the call. My son's English improved as a side effect of caring about what he was building.
Parent of an AI Builder student, 13 · Busan

Admissions

An application, not a checkout page

We place every student deliberately. The result: cohorts where every child can genuinely keep up — and be stretched.

Step 1

Parent Application

Submit the application form with your child's background, interests, and goals. It takes about five minutes.

Step 2

Student Level Check

Our admissions team reviews English comfort, prior exposure to technology, and motivation — via questionnaire and, when helpful, a short conversation.

Step 3

Track Placement

We recommend Junior Creator or AI Builder, and the class format that fits — small group, premium cohort, or 1:1 mentorship.

Step 4

Tuition & Onboarding

Confirm your seat, complete payment, and receive the onboarding pack: schedule, tools setup, and a parent orientation guide.

Step 5

8-Week Cohort

Weekly live sessions, project assignments, instructor feedback, and parent progress updates throughout.

Step 6

Demo Day

Students present their finished projects in English to guest mentors, receive feedback, and earn their certificate and personal project page.

What Your Child Walks Away With

Real artifacts, not just memories

Every graduate finishes with three things a report card can't capture.

Certificate of Completion

This certifies that

Student Name

has completed the 8-week AI Youth Lab project academy and presented an original project at Demo Day

Fall 2026 Cohort · AI Builder Track

Program DirectorMentor Panel

Certificate of Completion Illustrative sample

Signed by the program director and reviewed mentors — built for school portfolios.

theaiyouthlab.com/students/kevin

EcoSort — Smart Recycling Assistant

Built by Kevin, 15 · AI Builder Track

AI-assisted codingImage classificationLive demo

Personal Project Page Illustrative sample

A shareable page for the finished project — the seed of a future portfolio.

Week 4 Progress Report

AI Youth Lab → Parent

  • Prompt engineering: strong iteration habits

  • English participation: speaking up daily

  • Project milestone: visual identity complete

Parent Progress Reports Illustrative sample

Plain-language updates at weeks 2, 4, 6 and after Demo Day — what they built, where they grew.

For Parents

Designed for ambitious families. Built with safety in mind.

High expectations and healthy guardrails are not in tension — they're the whole design.

Read Our Child Safety & AI Use Policy
  • Parents receive progress updates throughout the cohort
  • We never encourage AI-written homework
  • Critical thinking and fact-checking are taught explicitly
  • All AI tool use is teacher-guided
  • Student work is published only with parent permission
  • Original work and proper citation are required
  • No emotional-companion AI services, ever
  • No addictive product mechanics — this is a course, not an app habit
  • We collect only the information needed to run the program

Fall 2026 cohort — applications open

Applications are open for the next 8-week cohort.

Seats are limited by design — small groups are how real mentorship works. Apply now and our admissions team will guide you through placement.