See What a New Jersey Hackathon Taught Students About AI | Ep.128

A student-run hackathon had middle schoolers vibe coding reading apps. Hear from Leila Qadri on vibe coding, equity, and her biggest takeaways.

First Up

Matt and Liz test Hungr.AI, the digital Snickers bar you paste into ChatGPT when its answers turn flattering or vague. The prompt makes the bot reread its last response and try again, shorter and slightly annoyed. It does not cure hallucinations, but the answers come back sharper.

• Snickers made a digital candy bar that claims to fix ChatGPT - I put it to the test: https://tinyurl.com/4xjbfy9m 

• Hungr.AI: https://tinyurl.com/yjxvj7jz 

The Rundown

Unsubscribing Made Simple

• Unsubscribing from hundreds of newsletters became effortless with this Gmail feature: https://tinyurl.com/2v9u2v82 

• How Astra's Computer Use Works (Kyle Jeong): https://tinyurl.com/3txrx58x 

• Nate's Substack on agents reading the accessibility tree: https://tinyurl.com/59azywxa 

Compute Limits Replacing Daily Caps

• Gemini Notebook switching to compute-based usage limits, like Gemini app: https://tinyurl.com/rtwkj4mf 

Rethinking Child Monitoring Apps

• Child-monitoring apps might need a reboot: https://tinyurl.com/2evj6jkz 

• GoGuardian: https://tinyurl.com/2zpvt9ma 

AI Framework for Teacher Education

• How Should AI Shape Teacher Education?: https://tinyurl.com/2fznwpy9 

Funding Next-Gen Learning Tools

• AI + Learning Impact Grants: https://tinyurl.com/bdepfccx 

Beneath the Surface

Leila Qadri, a junior at the Pingry School in New Jersey, ran an AI for Good hackathon where middle schoolers vibe coded apps to help younger kids read. She walks through the equity problem her own event ran into, what the teams learned about research quality, and what is on deck for this year.

Bright Byte

Researchers at Imperial College London propose widening AI's role in medicine from reactive diagnosis to proactive prevention, with future navigator systems working across clinical areas under minimal oversight. Regulation, validation, and liability all stand in the way.

• Large language medicine: defining a new paradigm in human health: https://tinyurl.com/d6m9srve 

Announcements

• Fall AI Conference: October 2, 2026: https://tinyurl.com/4k6x9scx

• Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

• Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai

• Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social

• Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift

• Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Your Gateway to Next Generation Advanced Manufacturing -https://www.nextgenmfg.org