ConversaBuddy AI Success

For about half a year now, I’ve been working on an AI project that allows users to talk to a Siri-like program with a visual component. It’s like talking to someone through a Zoom call but the person talking on the other side is AI generated.

I was inspired to start this project to give children diagnosed with autism more opportunity to practice oral communication. They need someone to talk to; many of my students at CHANGE and their parents also tell me that they are quite lonely at times and could use a companion.

I entered two contests: ICC (Invention Convention China) and IEYI (International Exhibition of Young Inventors). For ICC, I got a third prize for the Shanghai Provincial round and for IEYI, I first qualified for the international round by passing the China national round (top 10-30%) and got global gold later (top 6%).