Debut National Teen AI Competition Lands in Shanghai: Inclusive Tech Education and Early AI Exploration Advocated for Youths

More than 850 teenage students across China converged in Shanghai over the weekend for the finals of the inaugural National AI Challenge for Teens, a flagship national competition dedicated to nurturing young people's artificial intelligence literacy and innovative problem-solving skills.

Co-hosted by the China Welfare Institute (CWI), the China Women's Development Foundation and Shanghai's Huangpu District People's Government, and organized by the CWI Children's Palace, the event is a national natural science literacy competition accredited by China's Ministry of Education.

The competition drew over 40,000 student participants nationwide, including Hong Kong and Macau, for its preliminary rounds in April and May, with 856 outstanding contestants advancing to the two-day Shanghai finals. Competition results are set to be released on Monday.

Five Tracks Deliver Comprehensive Assessments

Five cutting-edge categories are on offer – spanning foundational AI knowledge, practical AI tool deployment, AI-powered scientific inquiry, embodied robotics and LLM application – allowing students of different abilities to take part. The event comprehensively evaluates participants' diverse competencies, including translating AI theories into practical problem-solving tools, deploying AI technologies for real-world scenarios, and conducting cross-disciplinary AI scientific research.

The embodied intelligence track stands out for its vivid practical scenarios. Centered on mini-supermarket order picking and checkout simulations, it adopts an integrated model of online simulation debugging and offline physical robot tests, assessing contestants' mastery of core robotic technologies such as perception, decision-making, precise control and multi-device collaborative operation.

Inclusive Initiative for Underprivileged Learners

Upholding the principle of inclusive technological education, the competition organizing committee invited over 60 teenagers from paired assistance and underdeveloped regions to attend on-site observations and experience the event firsthand, bridging the gap in youth AI education resources across regions.

Wang Yufeng, vice chairman of the China Welfare Institute, noted that the CWI has long upheld Soong Ching Ling's timeless vision of "giving the most precious things to children" to fuel the all-round development of young people. The inaugural competition aims to explore new paths for juvenile AI education, advance innovative youth AI training models, and promote inclusive, shared development of artificial intelligence education for adolescents nationwide.

He also said that the competition put into practice President Xi Jinping's call to advance the national strategy for cultivating high-caliber sci-tech talents.

Interactive Experiences and Game-based Learning

Beyond intense competitions, a rich array of educational outreach activities and interactive exhibitions were held during the finals. The exhibition area featured intelligent robots capable of dancing, making ice cream and brewing coffee, drawing crowds of participating students and parents for immersive interactive experiences.

One highlight booth showcased Paper2Gal, an innovative educational game developed collaboratively by an international online team. Powered by generative AI, the tool delivers real-time dialogue-based explanations to transform obscure, complex academic papers into engaging animated learning content, turning tedious scientific knowledge exploration into a fun, accessible experience.

Peter Zang, team leader of the Paper2Gal project and a state-owned enterprise employee, shared his insights on balanced human-AI learning.

"Humans and AI should grow collaboratively and empower one another, rather than forming a one-way, task-execution dynamic," he said.

"But AI generates outputs at an extremely fast pace in modern learning scenarios. Humans are forced to rush to verify and absorb these results, which creates heavy cognitive burdens and mental fatigue. Game-enabled learning effectively relieves such intensive mental strain and makes knowledge exploration far less strenuous," Zang added.

He emphasized that his team embodies the new model of human-AI collaborative learning. None of the team members are majoring in AI or computer science; all have independently mastered professional skills with the assistance of AI tools.

Zang and a university student partner in Guangzhou originally developed the first version of Paper2Gal and shared it on online communities. The tool quickly gained over 100,000 users, with many enthusiasts actively offering their efforts to optimize its design and functions.

The team now has eight core members with an average age of 20, including a junior high school student based in Singapore. All team members taught themselves coding skills using mainstream AI tools including DeepSeek and Doubao.

Embrace Cutting-edge Research Early

At a special dialogue session on youth AI education innovation, Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Robotics Co., encouraged young students to boldly explore cutting-edge technological research from an early age.

"AI has made high-quality learning resources widely accessible today. If you are interested in a field, do not dismiss it as too advanced or postpone your exploration until you grow older," Wang said.

"Early exploration makes you a seasoned practitioner by adulthood. Even if you can only develop a small AI model now, the experience will lay a solid foundation for you to build more powerful, sophisticated models in the future."

Chu Junhao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stressed that the AI industry is largely powered by young talent.

"AI demands innovative thinking as well as interdisciplinary integration of mathematics, information technology, physics and other disciplines, hinging greatly on creativity and inspiration," he said.

"Veteran researchers tend to be constrained by entrenched mindsets. By contrast, young people possess more open perspectives, keener insight and stronger innovative competence. Investing in the younger generation is crucial for the advancement of artificial intelligence, and we must cultivate a nurturing ecosystem for them. This national youth AI competition serves as precisely such an enabling platform."

He added that the competition should go beyond a one-off contest. "We ought to identify promising entries with room for further iteration, so as to fully tap youngsters' intellectual vitality and maximize the value of their original creative concepts."