Technology
High school students in Colorado explore limits of artificial intelligence, design their own AI models
A.I. USE IN THE CLASSROOM
Artificial intelligence can already write poems and make movie recommendations. What’s it going to do next? Well, that’s up to the people who program like some high school students in Longmont, Colorado.
LONGMONT, COLORADO. – Students and teachers in Colorado are experimenting with artificial intelligence, or AI, in the classroom.
High school students in Longmont, Colorado, are learning how to design their own AI model projects at the St. Vrain Valley School District Innovation Center. The program started this past fall.
Mai Vu, the A.I. Program manager at St. Vrain Valley School District, said the AI program’s goal is to teach students how to use AI to solve real-world problems.
“It’s everywhere, from the music they listen to, Spotify, from what they are seeing on Netflix, but they just don’t know that AI is working in the background,” Vu said.
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Students work on AI models. (Kennedy Hayes/ Fox News)
Vu said in her class, students learn how AI algorithms work and how they are coded.
Any student can join, and they can take as long as they need to finish their projects, according to Vu.
Mai Vu runs the AI High School Program in Longmont, Colorado. (Kennedy Hayes/ Fox News)
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Aiden Buchanan is a senior in high school and an AI student leader in the program.
“From learning about it, to getting the parts, to learning how to solder, to actually how to wire everything together, it’s definitely been hard,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan said he is working on installing an AI camera on a self-driving car.
AI model installs a camera on a self-driving car. (Kennedy Hayes/ Fox News)
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
“A big part of the AI self-driving car curriculum is camera-based detection, like detecting a stop sign or a stop light,” Buchanan said.
Vu said one of her AI program partners is The AI Education Project, a 5-year non-profit. Christian Pinedo, The AI Education Project chief of staff, said his non-profit works with schools across the country, guiding teachers and administrators on how to use AI responsibly.
His non-profit works with school districts in New York, Maryland, Florida, Texas, California, Colorado, and Ohio, according to Pinedo.
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Students Solder wires for their AI models. (Kennedy Hayes/ Fox News)
“Today it [artificial intelligence] is very, very obvious and so people are understanding a little bit more clearly that: ‘Wow, this is something that is changing education, changing the workforce, I don’t really know a lot about it,’” Piinedo said.
Students entering the course first learn AI basics. Vu said then students can begin creating and tracking their own AI projects. Another example of a student project is a gaming app that teaches French.
Students said they look forward to learning more about what AI can do.
“It does things that people spend hours to do in a small amount of time and I think that’s a really cool thing to work with as someone that is still in high school,” Buchanan said.
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Meta’s glasses will turn off the camera if you tamper with the privacy light
Amid public backlash over its smart glasses, Meta announced that it will be updating its glasses with a new feature that will disable the camera when it detects that someone has tampered with or destroyed the glasses’ privacy LED light. The update is meant to address modders who have taken actions such as physically drilling into the LED light.
Meta has previously tried to discourage tampering with the LED light. For example, starting with its second generation glasses, blocking the light with tape or other objects will trigger a prompt asking users to uncover the recording light. However, many modders have found various workarounds for that particular measure.
Meta’s VP of wearables Alex Himel told The Verge that the privacy-focused update was on the way a few weeks ago after launching cheaper Meta Glasses without Ray-Ban branding. At the time, Himel acknowledged that the company was aware of increasing misuse alongside wider adoption of the devices.
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In a thread on X, Discord writes that its safety system is designed to flag content by “matching it against known harmful material.” This system can produce “false positives,” Discord explains, which is when an employee would step in to review the flagged content. But instead of just temporarily preventing the account from uploading content during the review, a glitch led its system to ban users entirely.
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Hoto’s PixelDrive screwdriver is down to $60, matching its best price
If your Prime Day purchases included a new desk, TV stand, bookshelf, or other furniture you still haven’t assembled, Hoto’s PixelDrive cordless screwdriver can help speed up the process. It’s currently on sale for $59.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, matching its best price to date.
From tightening loose screws on furniture to repairing electronics, the PixelDrive is designed to handle a wide range of household projects. Hoto includes 30 screwdriver bits that cover many of the most common screw types, all neatly organized in a small cylindrical case. It also offers six adjustable torque settings, allowing you to use less power when working with fragile electronics or increase it when putting together a desk, bookshelf, TV stand, or other furniture. You can also switch between a slower 80RPM mode for more precise work and a faster 200RPM mode with the press of a button.
Hoto also added several features that make assembling projects a little easier. A built-in display lets you quickly check your current torque setting and remaining battery life, while an integrated LED light helps illuminate dim spaces, whether you’re working under a desk or inside a cabinet. The rechargeable 2,000mAh battery also charges over USB-C, so you won’t need to keep buying disposable batteries.
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