How Are Teens Living with AI? — Notes from a Ruby Programming Contest for Young Coders

Now that generative AI has become part of everyday life, how are middle and high school students bringing it into their programming? In this talk, I will present data on AI usage gathered through the Ruby Programming Contest for Middle and High School Students. I will also share how Waffle, a nonprofit working to close the gender gap in tech, has positioned and incorporated AI into its programs, and how participants have responded. Drawing on both data and voices from the field, I will explore how young people learn programming in the age of AI, and what adults can do to support them.