Supriya Bhuwalka is the founder of Coding & More, which provides AI education to children of all grades. She focuses on building a generation that is ready for future developments in AI. Let us look into what Supriya has to share about her organization, its mission vision and what it means to be a leading woman in AI in India.

Can you tell us about your journey?  

I started my career on the derivatives floor at CSFB, NY. After returning to India, I volunteered my time counselling students for study abroad for several years. Having been in close contact with impressionable youth and hearing their fears and aspirations, I realized that education and life skill enhancement is my purpose. This led me to found Coding and More - a personalized AI & Coding EDtech institute for students in the K-12 grade band.  

What made you interested in AI?  

The relatability and diverse application of AI got me interested in AI Education. When I started Coding and More, I researched an age-appropriate coding curriculum and came across the AI curriculum for the K-12 grade band.   AI, as you know, is not only in our everyday life - it has applications in practically every discipline that you can think of; It was like discovering a rabbit hole where suddenly all the applications we see around us started making sense.   

What is your area of expertise in AI, and what made you choose it?  

My area of expertise is AI education for the younger cohort ( ages 8 -16 years). At Coding and More, we have built a robust AI curriculum for both the AI educators and the students we are teaching. In my experience, the earlier one exposes children to subjects, they are less likely to self-select it. Sharing knowledge creates an energy that is shared forward. This is what draws me to AI education. AI is a powerful technology encompassing practically every field, and I could see a gap in the availability of AI educators and general awareness of the importance of AI literacy in India.   

What is the mission of Coding and More?  

Coding and More has a two-fold mission.  

We are an impact company aligned toward the two UN SDGs that I'm personally invested in - Quality Education and Gender Equality. For our students, we are committed to personalizing their learning and equipping them with world-class and relevant AI tools with the ethics of AI as the soul in each class. We focus on a holistic AI education where students are empowered to think about the relationship between humans and technology in society. We have built a collaborative culture within Coding and More to mentor and upskill women to learn AI and provide them with an opportunity to WFH flextime with us and serve as role models for the girl students.   

Can you say something about your current role and your handling projects?  

I choose to dedicate my time to learning and curating a simplified AI curriculum for students because I believe that AI is not just a tech discipline but a holistic discipline that needs to be taught and accessible to all people. I am also dedicated to building a collaborative AI community to increase authentic awareness of AI literacy. We co-host global hackathons to provide opportunities for our students to relate their learnings to real-life projects for the community at large. We invited academic scholars for interactive talks and initiated the first K-12 chapter with a community of data scientists - Omdena. We intend to bridge the gap between theoretical learning and our youth's real-life skill sets to be future AI-ready.  

In a world where every field is being transformed by technology, how can we make the future generation AI-ready?   

To be future-ready and to be able to pivot and evolve with the rapid changes in technology, we have to learn and teach our youth constantly. Therefore, AI literacy is imperative and needs to be a core requirement in school and not just from grades eight and up but needs to be integrated from the earlier years. For students to be educated in AI, we need to upskill our teachers and not just limit it to the CS class but integrate it into the curriculum. Also, it's essential that this learning be a mix of practical knowledge with theory, and we need to provide opportunities for students to practice their AI skills.   

Since you are an expert in handling AI for children, can you please tell us why it is essential to introduce the subject at school levels?    

We are more fearless and creative with our solutions at a younger age, so it's more impactful to start young. The good news is that today we have platforms made especially for children to learn AI applications that are visual, safe and age-appropriate. We have a curriculum developed by the professors of world-class research universities - such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon and others. We can and must introduce AI education in schools as children are now using AI apps and can understand the tech and learn to be more responsible designers and users of this technology.   

How can we introduce the concept of AI and bring more women into the tech fields from backward communities of India, where the restrictions on the life of girl children exist in various ways?  

We need to constantly build on Accessibility, Education, Mentorship, and a Collaborative Community. Women in tech communities like Women in AI etc., are imperative to bring people together and serve as safe spaces to exchange thoughts and experiences. It is also helpful to introduce tech to girls at a younger age to be less likely to self-select it. As an educational institute, we would like to collaborate with organizations that work with girl children from the backward communities and support them in building this safe community where we can inspire and empower the girls to learn AI. 

Will involving more women in the tech field mitigate bias and promote inclusion?    

It's essential to include not only women but people from all segments of society so that with equitable representation, our AI models, too, will be fair and more inclusive.

What do you want to say to women who want to build a career in AI and other tech-related fields?   

I want to tell them to have courage, learn, reach out for help and START. We live in exciting times where we can learn and be whoever we want to be as long as we are ready to have a growth mindset and persevere. All one needs is an internet connection, access to a device and an open mind to learn.