Eleven winners of the AI Talents Almaty educational project have traveled to the United States to represent Kazakhstan at an international technology venue, take part in an artificial intelligence conference and explore global developments in the field, the website infohub.kz reports.
AI Talents Almaty is an educational project aimed at teaching schoolchildren programming and artificial intelligence. The program is run with the support of the Almaty digitalization department and is designed in part for children with no prior experience in information technology.
Instruction begins with the basics of programming and gradually moves on to building applications, digital services and AI agents. The schoolchildren work with modern tools, learn to automate processes and develop solutions to practical problems under the guidance of professional mentors.
"The program is built on hands-on learning: schoolchildren master the basics of programming, learn to use AI tools, develop digital products and create their own AI agents. Professional mentors and IT industry experts assist the participants, and they apply the knowledge they gain at hackathons and while developing their own projects," said Nұrqanat Sabit, head of the Almaty digitalization department.
Some 10,000 schoolchildren took the project's initial testing, of whom 1,500 were selected for advanced training. More than 1,000 participants completed the course, received junior developer certificates and presented their own digital products.
The practical program included three in-person hackathons, where participants developed projects and defended them before experts. AITK Fest 2026 produced 11 winners, who earned the opportunity to visit Silicon Valley.
In the United States, the schoolchildren have already met Abhijeet Joshi, a senior technical program manager at NVIDIA.
One of the main events of the trip will be participation in the TechEquity AI Summit 2026, which runs from November 3 to 6. A visit to the conference, devoted to the development of artificial intelligence and its application across industries, is scheduled for November 5. Among the announced speakers are experts from NVIDIA, Google, Google DeepMind, Snowflake, Meta, IBM, Adobe and Stanford University.
The Almaty schoolchildren will also take part in the Company Brain Hackathon, where they can apply the knowledge they have gained and exchange experience with other developers.
The trip program also includes visits to Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), and an introduction to their research areas and study opportunities.
The participants will also attend the international PATH@40 event, marking the 40th anniversary of the California PATH research program. Developments in artificial intelligence, autonomous transport and intelligent urban infrastructure will be presented there.
The trip will allow the schoolchildren to learn about the work of leading technology companies and universities, present their own developments and gain experience taking part in international professional events.