AI Pioneer Program
The first youth AI literacy program in U.S. history. Students ages 11–18 learn to build and ship real AI projects in eight weeks.
13 interactive chapters in 3D
Every dot is 250 kids, placed in the census tract where they live. Fly through ridgelines, terrain, stained-glass counties and every school, in any of the 15 styles. Pick a chapter to jump straight in.
From 3 states to 42 in two years
Press play or tap a checkpoint. Each number is the reach ZEN AI Co reported at that point in time.
Reach over time
33,000+ Pioneers. 1,000+ live AI apps.
Pioneers don't just use AI. They build it, deploy it with real API keys and publish it where anyone can try it.
33,000+ students
Each figure = 1,000 students
1,000+ apps deployed
Each square = one live student-built AI app
The 8-week path
Four modules, two sections each. First live deployments land in weeks 4–5.
An 11-year-old Pioneer shipped a live AI app.
Every credential can be checked
Pioneer credentials use the Open Badges 3.0 standard and are recorded on NEAR Protocol, so anyone a student shares a badge with can verify it.
DC, Maryland & Virginia
The program launched here in fall 2024 with Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. Hover or tap any county or school.
1 in 23 U.S. kids still has no home broadband
You can't learn to build with AI without a connection. The gap has shrunk fast, but it hasn't closed, and it's widest where incomes are lowest.
The gap follows income
Counties grouped into fifths by median household income, each holding about 1/5 of U.S. kids
3 states hold 28.1% of the gap
Each square = 1% of U.S. kids without home broadband
Every state improved
Share of kids without home broadband in each state, 2015–19 → 2020–24. Hover or tap a state.
Every dot is a school teaching grades 6–12
56,863 public schools serve 26.1 million students in grades 6–12, the same ages as the AI Pioneer Program.
Check any state
Pick a state to see its broadband gap, its five-year change and how many schools teach grades 6–12.
Bring the AI Pioneer Program to your students
Eight weeks. Real models. Live projects. Verifiable credentials. For ages 11–18.
Sources & notes
- Program figures (students, states, countries, apps, ages, structure, credentials, frameworks) are reported by ZEN AI Co, 2026. State counts include DC. The program's full state and country lists are not shown on this page.
- Home broadband: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 and 2015–2019, Table B28005. “No home broadband” = kids under 18 in households with no computer, no internet subscription, or dial-up only. County figures carry margins of error (90%), shown on hover.
- Income fifths: counties ranked by ACS 2020–2024 median household income (Table B19013) and split so each fifth holds about 20% of U.S. kids.
- Schools: NCES EDGE public school locations and Common Core of Data membership, 2023–24. Open, non-virtual schools with at least one student enrolled in grades 6–12 (56,863 schools; 26,082,338 students).
- Maps: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 cartographic boundary files, 1:5,000,000 nationally and 1:500,000 for DC, Maryland and Virginia. Connecticut's 2015–19 county figures can't be compared because its planning regions replaced counties in 2022.