10 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summer Programs for Middle School Students
As AI continues to shape industries worldwide, summer programs offer middle school students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience, explore AI concepts, and build technical skills at an early age. These programs provide structured learning without interfering with the school year and offer mentorship, project-based learning, and exposure to real-world AI applications.
Many of these opportunities come from prestigious universities, research institutions, and tech companies, making them excellent options for you. If you are looking to explore artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science, we’ve compiled this list of 10 AI summer programs for middle school students!
Cost: Free to audit; optional $29 for certificate
Location: Virtual
Program Dates: Self-paced (should take about 3 weeks with 2 hours per week)
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Eligibility: Open to all ages with beginner-level experience
“AI For Everyone” is a foundational course designed to teach artificial intelligence to a broad audience. This course provides an accessible introduction to AI, targeting individuals without a technical background, such as professionals in various fields, business leaders, and anyone curious about AI's impact on the world.
You will cover several key areas, such as how AI can be applied in business, ethical considerations, and how to start an AI project. By the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of AI's capabilities and limitations, how to integrate AI into business strategy, and the ethical challenges surrounding AI deployment.
2. Veritas AI Trailblazers Program
Cost: $1,790 (Need-based financial aid available)
Location: Virtual
Program Dates:
Spring cohort: 25 hours over 10 weekends
Summer cohort: 25 hours over 2 weeks (weekdays only)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Middle school students (Grades 6-8), no prior experience required
The Veritas AI Trailblazers Program is a structured virtual AI course designed for middle school students. Over 25 hours of instruction, you will learn Python, data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. The program maintains a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio, ensuring personalized learning and project guidance.
You will work on AI-driven projects; past projects done by alumni students included building a machine-learning model to classify music genres and creating a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
3. HarvardX: CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python
Cost: Free (Certificate available for $299, financial aid available)
Location: Virtual via edX
Program Dates: 7 weeks (10–30 hours per week), self-paced
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, but prior Python programming experience is required
CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python is offered through HarvardX on edX. This self-paced AI course introduces you to the core concepts and algorithms behind artificial intelligence. You will explore game engines, handwriting recognition, and machine translation, while working on hands-on Python projects.
The course covers essential AI topics such as graph search algorithms, classification, optimization, and machine learning. You will also gain experience with machine learning libraries, allowing you to build and optimize intelligent AI systems.
4. Lumiere Junior Explorer Program (JEP)
Cost: Varies (Need-based financial aid available)
Location: Remote
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year (Summer, Fall, Spring, Winter)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Middle school students (Grades 6-8) with strong academic interest in AI
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program (JEP) is a highly selective research experience for middle school students who want to explore AI and data science through independent projects. You will work one-on-one with mentors from top universities (Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, etc.) to develop a custom AI project based on your interests.
The program provides structured guidance to help you develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and research skills, preparing you for future AI competitions or academic research.
5. IBM: AI For Everyone: Master the Basics
Cost: Free without a certificate and $99 with a certificate. Financial aid is available.
Location: Virtual via edX
Program Dates: Self-paced, but estimated to take 4 weeks with 1-2 hours per week.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Eligibility: Open to all
The “AI For Everyone—Master the Basics” course by IBM on edX helps you gain an understanding of AI and its various applications and use cases. You'll learn about the foundations of AI concepts, such as machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks, and learn its real-life applications.
The course also covers ethical considerations, bias, job impacts, and societal implications of using AI. The course culminates in a hands-on mini-project that demonstrates AI in action. On successfully completing the course, you will earn a skill badge that showcases the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course.
6. Berkeley Coding Academy: Data Science & AI Journey
Cost: Starting $2,079 (Early enrollment discounts available)
Location: Virtual (Live Zoom instruction)
Program Dates: July 14 – August 1 (Core Program), additional AI modules extend to August 8
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Ages 12-14 and 15-18; prior Python experience recommended but not required
The Berkeley Coding Academy offers a hands-on AI and data science program for middle and high school students. The program introduces students to Python, machine learning, and AI applications through interactive lectures and small group projects. You can learn about topics such as teaching machines to recognize images, building AI models, and understanding AI ethics.
The program is structured into different packages, ranging from a 3-week core AI package to a 5-week expert package that includes advanced coursework in Python and AI model development. Live instruction is provided by experienced data science educators, with students grouped by age and coding experience for a personalized learning experience.
7. Stanford's Machine Learning Specialization
Cost: Free (with optional Coursera Plus subscription for certification)
Location: Virtual
Program Dates: Self-paced
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Eligibility: Open to all learners; basic math skills recommended
The Machine Learning Specialization course by Stanford Online, is a beginner-friendly online course that introduces you to key machine learning concepts. Taught by AI expert Andrew Ng, the program covers supervised and unsupervised learning, neural networks, decision trees, and deep reinforcement learning.
You will gain comprehensive experience by building machine learning models using Python, NumPy, and scikit-learn. You will also work on real-world AI applications such as recommendation systems and anomaly detection.
Cost: Free (with optional Coursera Plus subscription for certification)
Location: Virtual (Self-paced learning)
Program Dates: Self-paced
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Eligibility: Open to all students interested in AI applications, no prior programming required
Google AI Essentials is a self-paced online course designed to teach students how to apply AI to everyday tasks. The program focuses on practical AI applications rather than complex programming, making it accessible to students with no prior AI experience.
You will learn how to use AI tools for generating ideas, organizing information, and improving productivity. The course also covers AI ethics, responsible AI use, and effective prompt engineering. Upon completion, you will receive a certificate from Google.
9. MIT DynaMIT
Cost: Free
Location: MIT, Boston, MA
Program Dates:
Week 1: Rising 6th/7th Graders - August 11 - 15
Week 2: Rising 8th/9th Graders - August 18 - 22
Application Deadline: March 2
Eligibility: Middle school students entering 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th grades in the coming school year
MIT’s DynaMIT is a free, week-long STEM summer program designed for middle school students in the greater Boston area who have limited access to STEM opportunities. While the program covers a broad range of science and engineering topics, it also introduces students to key computational concepts relevant to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Through hands-on experiments, coding challenges, and engineering projects, you’ll explore patterns in math, the role of AI in scientific discovery, and the basics of robotics and automation. Past activities have included building with Arduino microcontrollers, analyzing data like a scientist, and solving real-world problems with logic and technology — all essential skills for future AI and computer science studies.
10. Kode With Klossy - Summer Camp
Cost: Free
Location: Virtual & in-person (select U.S. cities)
Program Dates: Multiple 2-week sessions during the summer
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Young women and gender-expansive youth aged 13-18
Founded by Karlie Kloss, Kode With Klossy is a free, 2-week coding bootcamp designed to empower young women and gender-expansive students through immersive technology education. You can choose from four specialized tracks:
Web Development – Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build websites.
Mobile App Development – Focus on user experience and mobile applications.
Data Science & Visualization – Work with real-world datasets to analyze and visualize data.
Machine Learning & AI – Gain hands-on experience in training machine learning models.
The camp also includes activities other than direct learning, such as arranging guest lectures by inspirational women in technology as part of a speaker series.
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