Hampshire teenagers named runners up in Amazon AI coding contest

Duncan Currie and Ben Bartlett, from Chandler’s Ford, made their mark in the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge, a UK-wide AI coding contest, by designing new gaming and environmental Alexa skills.

Duncan, a pupil at Thornden School in Chandler’s Ford, invented the ‘Skill for Good’ to raise awareness of carbon emissions and the environmental impact of everyday life. The skill includes a carbon calculator and eco-tips which can be accessed by voice command to help people make smarter choices for the good of the environment.

Ben Bartlett, who attends Upper Shirley High School in Southampton, created ‘Game Guru’ which helps consumers choose new games to interact with after answering questions about what they enjoy playing.

READ MORE: Hampshire woman opens K&B Sewing Machines repair business

The Hampshire competitors were awarded a £250 Amazon voucher each as well as £500 vouchers for their schools,

Entries were picked by a judging panel including Countdown legend and STEM education advocate Carol Vorderman, Stemettes founder Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, YouTuber Tobi Brown, and Amazon technology director Lauren Kisser.

First-time coder Duncan said: “I really enjoyed competing in this exciting competition, as it was my first time taking part in an event like this. I found certain aspects challenging but had lots of fun all in all. The interactive carbon calculator was hard to create but worth it in the end, as it highlighted to me what different factors affect my footprint. I hope that the ‘eco tips’ give users other ideas for how they might help to save our planet."

Ben added: “The Game Guru solves the problem of not knowing what game to play. This is done by a range of questions narrowing down the answer until it finds what game is desired. This project is really cool because it consists of a personal problem of not knowing what to do and how to find a new genre to play.”

SEE ALSO: Stormtrooper brings joy to children and young adults in Hampshire hospices

Amazon technology director Lauren Kisser said: “We were blown away by the innovation and imaginative thinking that was evident in many of the entries we received,

“The challenge forms part of our Amazon Future Engineer programme, designed to upskill young people in Artificial Intelligence and computer science and inspire them to consider a career in STEM. If more young people like Duncan and Ben play an active part in imagining ways AI can be used to tackle social issues in their communities, just think of the good that technology could achieve in the future.”

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon said: “The tech revolution never stops and we know that AI is going to be a vital part of the future of the industry so it’s great to see the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge identifying some amazing young people who are taking the first steps on this journey to be our future scientists and technologists.”