Inclusive Tech Education and Early AI Learning for Youths: 1st National AI Competition for Teens Lands in Shanghai

[In Focus]Huangpu
Shanghai
Guangzhou
Inclusive Tech Education and Early AI Learning for Youths: 1st National AI Competition for Teens Lands in Shanghai
by Yang Meiping
August 2, 2026
[In Focus]Huangpu
Shanghai
Guangzhou
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Credit: Yang Meiping / Shanghai Daily
Caption: The inaugural National AI Challenge for Teens finals take place in Shanghai over the weekend.

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

It was 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 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

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Credit: Yang Meiping / Shanghai Daily
Caption: Contestants compete in the AI competition finals held in Huangpu Riverside, Shanghai.

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

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Credit: Dong Jun / Shanghai Daily
Caption: Robot completing shelf goods pickup during the AI finals.

Source: www.citynewsservice.cn