8 AI Programs for High School Students in California
If you are interested in technology and AI and want to be a creator of AI technologies rather than just a consumer, you’ll need to build a strong understanding of coding and develop strong analytical skills. Joining an AI program is a great way to enhance your technical skills, while also building on your problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.
If learning more about AI and its applications is of interest to you, look no further. We have curated a list of 8 AI programs suitable for high school students in California.
1. Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR) High School Summer Program
The Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR) High School Summer Program is a free-of-cost initiative for students entering grades 10–12 who will explore cutting-edge AI technologies, concepts, and ethics under the guidance of Berkeley lecturers, scientists, and lab researchers.
Selected students attend lectures from UC Berkeley AI or Computer Science (CS) professors and are encouraged to apply the concepts learned to projects. This is a commute-based program that runs for seven hours a day (including an hour-long lunch break) for five working days.
Students spend some time learning introductory Python programming while gaining hands-on experience developing machine-learning models and understanding the mathematical concepts underlying AI systems. They work on real-world AI projects under Berkeley graduate students and also get to visit the robotics lab.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Location: UC Berkeley Campus, Berkeley, CA
Application deadline: April 30, 2024
Program Dates: July 8 to 12, 2024
Eligibility: Open to Bay Area high school students entering grades 10–12
2. Veritas AI
Veritas AI is founded and run by Harvard graduate students, and our programs are geared toward high school students who want to build strong foundations in artificial intelligence and machine learning. In the program, students learn various concepts in data science and artificial intelligence like neural networks, image classification, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, coding using Python, and more.
Veritas AI offers up to 100% financial aid for the AI Scholars program. Through the program, students build real-world projects in groups of 3–5 to showcase their interests and skills. You can also apply for the AI Fellowship, where you work 1-on-1 with mentors from top universities to build unique, individualized projects.
Cost/Stipend: AI Scholars - $1790; AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase - $4900; Combination Program (AI Scholars + AI Fellowship) - $5900
Location: Virtual - you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Application deadline: April 21, 2024 (regular admission I), May 12, 2024 (regular admission II)
Program Dates: Summer Cohort begins on June 3, 2024.
Eligibility: Open to all high school students
3. Horizon Academic Research Program
Location: Virtual
Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort
Program Dates:
Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research!
Once you select a particular subject track and type of research you’ll be paired with a professor or Ph.D. scholar (from a top university) who will mentor you throughout your research journey. You’ll work to create a 20-page, university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and on college applications. Apply here!
4. ICS Summer Academy, UC Irvine
The Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) Summer Academy at UC Irvine is a two-week program that offers four courses for high school students: Data Analytics, Cryptography & Security, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, and Software Engineering. The ICS Summer Academy was established in 2022 and has conducted two successful camps thus far.
The Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI/ML) course will help students explore the foundations of machine learning. They will apply the concepts learned by analyzing real data using the statistical programming language R. By the end of the program, students will also complete a team capstone project based on a real-world machine learning application.
Last year, students made use of an Alzheimer’s research database to create AI models for their group projects.
Cost/Stipend: $2500 (Need-based scholarships are available)
Location: UC Irvine Campus, Irvine, CA
Application deadline: March 17, 2024 (Closed for 2024)
Program Dates: Session 2 (which includes AIML) - July 22 to August 2, 2024
Eligibility: Open to all high school students
5. Computer Science Summer Institute - Generative AI
The Computer Science Summer Institute-Generative AI at UCLA is one of the many summer programs offered by the nation's top public university. In this three-week-long course, students will learn in great detail about one of the most common applications of AI, which is generative AI for text.
Students will learn the basics of neural networks, deep learning, and natural language processing, and pre-trained language models such as BERT, BART, and GPT-3 will also be explored. Students work on real-life guided projects, experimenting with generative algorithms and creating unique AI-generated content. The program culminates with a final presentation on the projects undertaken by the students.
Cost/Stipend: $3,020 (Need-based scholarships are available)
Location: UCLA Campus, Los Angeles, CA
Application deadline: June 1, 2024
Program Dates: July 1 to July 19, 2024
Eligibility: Open to all high school students and should be at least 15 years old at the start of the program. A cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher is required to apply
Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego is a non-profit run by UCSD that organizes workshops for students entering 3rd–12th grade. One of the courses offered for all high school students is a week-long course: High School: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT. This on-site program will provide students with foundational knowledge on the basic building blocks of AI and naturally intelligent systems, such as the global phenomenon called ChatGPT.
This is a completely lecture-based program, so students enrolled in this program are encouraged to take up side projects, in person or virtually, to improve their hands-on experience with AI models.
Cost/Stipend: $275 (Need-based scholarships are available)
Location: UC San Diego Campus, La Jolla, CA
Application deadline: Not Available
Program Dates: Two sessions - 15 to 19 July 2024 & 22 to 26 July 2024
Eligibility: Open to all high school students
7. Stanford AIMI Summer AI Bootcamp
The Stanford Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging (AIMI) Summer AI Bootcamp is a two-week, immersive virtual program that aims to improve students’ understanding of machine learning and AI in healthcare.
Students with little to no coding knowledge can apply for the program, and through online learning modules, they will learn about machine learning and its application in the healthcare industry. There will be guest lectures from people representing academia, industry, and government institutes and a career lunch, which will help students explore prospects in this field.
There is also a week-long program open only to 9th-grade students called Stanford AI4All. This is a paid, virtual program, and more details about it can be found here.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Location: Virtual
Application deadline: March 31, 2024
Program Dates: June 17 to July 28, 2024
Eligibility: Open to all high school students
8. San Jose State University (SJSU) Tech Academy
San Jose State University (SJSU) Tech Academy is a 4-week program for high school seniors that enhances their knowledge in math, physics, programming, and artificial intelligence. This is a fully-funded residential program for students interested in pursuing a degree in software engineering, computer engineering, or computer science at San Jose State University.
The program encourages students who are Pell Grant eligible and have a GPA of 3.0 after 10th grade to apply. Alongside the academic sessions, it also includes interactions with tech industry professionals and college application prep with SJSU admissions office staff.
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded. Students receive a $2,000 stipend as well
Location: San José State University, San Jose, CA
Application deadline: January 14, 2024 (Closed for 2024)
Program Dates: June 9 to July 7, 2024
Eligibility: Open to all rising school seniors who are US citizens, permanent residents, or lawful refugees. A GPA of 3.0 from 10th grade is required
9. UCSF AI4ALL
The UCSF (University of California San Francisco) AI4ALL is a 3-week non-residential summer program that aims to engage students in the growing field of AI and its biomedical applications. High school students from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply for this free program.
Students attend lectures to learn the basics of AI and how to build AI and machine learning models using Python. They then engage in a small-group research project led by graduate students. The program culminates with a capstone group presentation of their work.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Location: Virtual
Application deadline: March 28, 2024 (Closed for 2024)
Program Dates: July 8 to July 26, 2024
Eligibility: Open to all rising high school students across the US
If you’re looking to build unique projects in the field of AI/ML, consider applying to Veritas AI!
Veritas AI was founded by Harvard graduate students, and through the programs, you get a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI and computer science while collaborating on real-world projects. You can also work 1-1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn data science and AI with us. You can apply here!
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