Building an AI Project, Interviews and the World Economic Forum's Global Challenge
March Newsletter
Hi! If you’re new here, I’m a 19-year old design engineer, emerging tech enthusiast and founder. Currently, I’m building tech projects in the intersection of AI and other kinds of emerging tech and am an astronomy enthusiast :) Previously, I’ve built an observatory in my back garden, was awarded a First Class Diploma in tabla by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and won as an international finalist for Uber Global Hackathon.
Building in AI
AI x Gene Editing Project continued
Following our decision to take our last month’s Global Hackathon project forward as a team, this month we began speaking to experts from both the Gene Editing and AI industries to help validate our idea. We are grateful for the time given by individuals with backgrounds ranging from companies such as Leen, Kiip, Typeform, Forbes Business Council and MIT among others. I was inspired so much by the potential this project has that I decided this month to make my TKS Focus - where you get to replicate and create something in an emerging industry - for this particular project!
Our project is a proposal to help combat Cassava Mosaic Disease by genetically modifying whiteflies carrying antigens that inhibit the spread of CMD into crops to help deter yield loss, therefore reducing food insecurity in countries like Nigeria by 49.56%. Where AI comes in is in integrating DNA sequencing into data analysis post-experimentation, to enhance our capacity to rapidly process and interpret vast datasets, thus accelerating the process.
Our team is keen on moving this project forward and if you happen to know someone who can be of help to us for our first phase (R&D) - where it’s just identifying target genes and conducting preliminary lab experiments, feel free to get in touch with one of my team members (see my previous month’s newsletter for details) or myself and we’d be happy to send over our project deck!..
…All of this building was to culminate off with the second Global Session hosted by TKS for the current Innovate year’s learners (1000 students). This for me, was a super fun highlight of the year event to meet with a like-minded community of innovators that you can’t get anywhere else. These sessions are always my favourite! We played fun games like 80s dance challenges, rap battles, philosophical ‘brain pods’, meeting with a global community (from 300+ cities around the world) all at once and even a scavenger hunt!
Interviews
Nicholas Chua
At the beginning of the month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicholas Chua, a fellow TKS Innovator, who finished up a global 4-week challenge sprint alongside Meta back in January, creating a safer algorithm for Instagram reels from a psychological standpoint to quell ‘doomscrolling’, which won the global Grand Prize out of 80 teams across 300+ cities.
A person with great-expertise and self-taught in high-level skills (holding Product Management internships in companies like Welfie and Sotira), Nicholas is interested in building equitable products and software to solve the world’s biggest problems. Between his interests in product management, assistive technology and digital marketing, he hopes to bring new developments to people in large numbers.
A main takeaway I got from hearing Nicholas’s experience is that in order to gather a winning team - look for grit, communication, adaptability and the willingness to be taught before taking individuals onboard!
Jay Shankarpure
Later on that month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jay Shankarpure,a 16-year old entrepreneur and investor, who created the Shodh - stock research platform with 500K+ lifetime traffic receiving $150K worth credits from Microsoft, which led him to speak at the G20 Summit representing the company in the presence of the Education minister of India and delegates across 20+ countries. Today, he currently runs Spark - A community of 400+ developers receiving $20,000 in sponsorship along with writing $3-15K checks for early-stage startups at Localhost.
One of the main learnings I got from hearing Jay’s experience is for a young person to be successful entrepreneurship or any high-level endeavour - combine curiosity with perseverance!
Having successfully grown companies of his own at a young age and in a short span of time, Jay shares lessons learned and insights from the beginnings his personal and professional journey till now.
Check out both podcasts here!
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In addition, I have produced an infographic summary of more insights that resonated with me the most from both the guests in our podcast, which I think would be valuable particularly for like-minded young innovators and builders. Feel free to print this out and stick it to your wall for some inspiration!:
TKS Spring Consulting Challenge Sprint: World Economic Forum
How do we utilise modern tools for education to help students understand global challenges in the world?
This is the problem statement students were provided from the World Economic Forum and we were given about a month to come up with a deck and loom video presenting our solution from scratch.
Akshay TP, Atharv, Karan and I worked together to devise a recommendation deck with our project called Nirvana, which focuses on solving the linguistic barrier and accessing credible content on climate change/environment on the world wide web for rural Indian NGO elementary-aged school students by introducing problem-solving frameworks and systems thinking through a translation and module learning platform/feature, where students can learn simplified concepts well-suited to their age and available in any of the 22 languages of India.
Shout out to my team for their research and efforts! It was a pleasure being the Project Manager and I enjoyed working with you guys :)
I learned a ton from speaking to Indian NGOs and EdTech leaders. Thanks to SOS Children’s Villages India, Khelaghar, Sri Salil Lahiri, JP Michel and others, on giving me insight into what modern tools mean and ways the 116 million without a voice on the global web can become problem solvers of the future.
Moving to the US🇺🇸
Before deciding to take the big leap across the pond once again, this time to the nation known for being “The Land of Opportunity”, I had sentimental moments saying farewell to my friends and family in England.
One of the highlights was spending an afternoon with my best friend Nikita who I’ve known for God know’s however long it’s been!
When I arrived in Chicago (my first time in the states), everything seemed BIG (unlike anything I’ve seen in the UK or the rest of the world!). From here, I’m going to New Jersey next month to visit family, before taking a sleeper train to SF in a couple of months time - with nothing but a suitcase, backpack and a promise to make my loved ones proud.
It has been inspiring to get a first glimpse of where I’ll continue my business work, projects, studies and life! I’m looking forward to acclimatising to the environment where brothers and sisters are known for being some of the greatest movers, shakers and game-changers of planet Earth!! Thank you to all those who have truly been with me in my journey or if you’re just joining in. Your support means the world <3.
Snippets
Monthly favourites & media that I’m consuming
📖 Currently reading:
Wings of Fire by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Arun Tiwari
Recommended to me by a friend, this short autobiography by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, walks us through his humble beginnings to becoming a project director at ISRO and pivotal figure to rocket science (before becoming the President of India). It’s not just a narrative of his personal and professional achievements, but what I found inspiring was it’s a testament to the power of dreams, perseverance and the importance of nurturing the minds of the youth. It beautifully illustrates how one's dedication and hard work can truly make a difference, not only in their own life but also in uplifting society. Favourite quote: The book is filled with countless amazing moments, but one quote that stands out for me is, "You have to dream before your dreams can come true".
The Giver by Lois Lowry
A profound exploration of society through the lens of a dystopian future. The novel delves into themes of memory, individuality and the essence of human emotion.
After reading, I linked this novel to my past experiences of the present-day UK school system, especially when considering themes of conformity, control and the value placed on individual experiences within educational settings. The novel's focus on a society that prioritises uniformity and the suppression of individual emotions can be a metaphorical lens through which one can examine the balance between standardised education and the encouragement of individual thought and creativity in schools (e.g. I found that when I was in school, us students were not given a freedom of choice of which subjects/career to go with but rather told to pursue a certain career path—even if one has virtually no interest in it. I was told to go work at the local grocery store when I was interested in entering real estate back then!). In the UK school system, there is an ongoing debate about the balance between standardised testing and curricula versus the need for personalised learning experiences that cater to the individual strengths and interests of students.
Favourite quote: "We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others”. I interpreted this quote within the context of the education system as highlighting the trade-off between structured learning environments and the freedom for individual thought.
Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich
On the topic of the school system, this is a critique of traditional education systems and the concept of schooling itself. Illich's work challenges the very foundations of formal education, arguing that it not only fails to achieve its intended goals of learning and personal development but also reinforces social inequalities and suffocates creative and independent thought. He advocates for the "deschooling" of society, proposing a model where learning is decentralised and occurs through spontaneous and informal networks rather than through structured, institutionalised settings. Favourite quote: "School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is".
🎧 Podcast: Benjamin Todd on what the effective altruism community most needs
🧠 Articles:
How to Start Google (Paul Graham): Basically detailing his advice to young people on what to do now if they might want to start a startup later. Great read, even for those who are toying with the idea. However, I found his point on finding co-founders through being at universities obsolete (though he did offer some counterexamples as it’s aimed at the general population). Communities like TKS exist now where people build life-long relationships and some even end up at YC from there. Main takeaways: Get good at technology that you have an interest in, build projects to get more ideas of what to build and find co-founders.
Our current list of especially pressing world problems: a list of critical world problems based on their scale, negligence and tractability, aiming to identify where additional efforts can make the most impact. Each of these areas are impactful opportunities for young people to make a dent in. My takeaways: Build capacity for solving problems through effective altruism, global priorities research is required and decision-making in important institutions needs improvement.
Swami Vivekananda and his 1893 Speech (Swami Vivekananda): My Grandfather recommended me to read this famous speech since I arrived in Chicago, where Swami delivered a speech over 130 years prior in the city, calling for religious tolerance and an end to fanaticism to the Western World. I was inspired after reading this. My takeaways: all of reality is interconnected, be of service to humanity-“worship through service”-and encourage a spirit of fearlessness-"Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”.
Intentions for Next Month
Thank you for reading this newsletter which I drafted quite a few times while on the plane to the US. Going into April, my hackathon team and I are going to be further developing the AI-optimised modified whiteflies project, I’m going to be at a conference in Montréal with amazing youth and be competing in a ‘Moonshot’ (to work on building some literal sci-fi solutions!). See you then👋
Josh Roy
Bravo dear Josh Roy. Really fantastic studies,expressions and your dedicated hard work at this age !! Wish you all the best and assure you of our support all the time !! Ashis Ray
Kolkata, India.