ALCOA, TENN. — Alcoa Intermediate School's artificial intelligence team won the Tennessee state championship of the Presidential AI Challenge and will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national competition. Team members jumped and hugged when they learned their project had won.

The Presidential AI Challenge started last fall when the White House asked teachers to apply for the competition. Students were tasked with developing an artificial intelligence product to solve a problem in their local community. AI Tennessee, part of the University of Tennessee, guided the students participating in the competition.

The Alcoa club developed an application called "Homework Helper" to assist children who struggle with focusing or who do not have an adult available to help them study. According to the project's submission, the app lets users type a problem, analyzes it using AI, and then asks guiding questions to help solve it.

Alcoa teacher Hope McDonald and University of Tennessee professor Emily Holt helped the students with the project. McDonald said she initially approached AI with reservations. "I know there's a lot of skepticism about AI, and to be honest with you, I was one of those skeptical educators. However, what I see AI doing is using it as a tool," she said.

Student Ryker Cochran described his reaction to the win. "I was overjoyed. I was very happy that we figured out how to make this work. It was an amazing process, really," Cochran said.

University of Tennessee professor Anne Ho spoke about the purpose of involving young students in AI work. "AI is changing very rapidly right now. So, it is our responsibility to make sure our youth are prepared for the future, whatever that future looks like, even if it's different than the world that we're in now," Ho said.