Nearly two dozen Charlotte-area middle schoolers spent a week exploring artificial intelligence and computer science during the inaugural AI Play Summer Day Camp at Queens University of Charlotte. The weeklong program from July 20-24 brought rising sixth through eighth graders to campus for an immersive exploration. Led by Assistant Professor Alexis Goslen in the Department of Computer Science, the program offered local youth a hands-on introduction to the tech landscape. Goslen said students are coming into contact with AI more than ever, and the goal was to help them understand the vocabulary of AI beyond generative models like ChatGPT. Daily lessons included a “robot relay” to explore robotic perception and a candy-sorting exercise to model machine learning. Interactive discussions covered AI ethics and data privacy, focusing on algorithmic fairness and responsible technology use, before campers designed and coded their own digital game projects. Camper Cooper Ryan of Oakridge Middle School said he never knew how AI tracks data and how much it knows about you. Julian Taylor, a rising seventh grader at Charlotte Country Day School, said he learned AI doesn’t think like a human and can only do what it’s been taught and trained to do. Kenitra Horsley, chief operating officer at Queens, shared her personal technology trajectory with campers, tracing her path from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to serving as chief information officer at Queens.