The AI Engineer World's Fair has attracted a lot of adults, and they brought their kids too, for Sunday's AI Engineering Kids Day.
Scientists agree that the best time to learn new languages, be they linguistic or computer-based, is at a young age. 87 children between eight and 16 were in San Francisco to learn how to code their own material and build their own games using AI.
Cassandra Chin from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, one of the teachers, explained that it was Minecraft that got her interested in software development. As a youngster she set up her own server and joined with others in modifying code. In the session she showed kids how to code a game and wire sensors into an Arduino Nano breadboard.
"What's important when working with kids is you inspire them to enjoy the technology," she said. "They don't have to learn all the syntax and specifics, just as long as you show them that technology is fun. Then, when they go home with their parents, they'll want to continue doing it."
Kaitlyn Hornbuckle, from Oregon State University, also taught a class on using Claude and Godot to develop 3D games. The talk covered how to build prompting skills, build GDScripts, and build a storyline that encourages other players.
"If you give them time to explore on their own, tinker around, and teach them how to be safe online, they might surprise you with what they create," she said.
The Kids Day was sponsored by graph intelligence builder Neo4j. Stephen Chin, VP of Developer Relations, explained that the company was meeting a need.
"There is a significant gap in the current school curriculum," he said. "Students who learn AI early in their career will be much more successful and have more job opportunities after graduation."
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