Course: MAI-101 Programming Skills

MAI-101 Programming Skills: A Thickened Programming Course for Absolute Beginners. This course integrates generative AI technologies and algorithmic training, seamlessly combining hands-on practice with ChatGPT and DALL·E to build core programming abilities and front-end development skills. From the very first lesson, students will deeply incorporate ChatGPT and DALL·E into experiments and projects, mastering the application of generative AI in modern programming.

Designed for zero-to-hero progression, the curriculum covers foundational concepts such as variables and scope, data types, conditionals, loops, basic data structures (e.g., lists and dictionaries), and function design and usage. The lab component extends to front-end development skills, including UI/UX components, event-driven programming, callback functions, and more. Students will also develop essential techniques like debugging, naming conventions, modular programming, and basic algorithmic thinking.

All assignments are carefully curated, with select problems drawn from AIO (Australian Informatics Olympiad) and USACO (USA Computing Olympiad) contests. Upon completion, students are well-prepared to take the AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) exam.

Course: MAI-201 Artificial Intelligence

MAI-201 Artificial Intelligence: Core Concepts and Mainstream Models in Deep Learning. This course introduces the foundational concepts of deep learning and major models, covering multilayer feedforward neural networks, deep backpropagation algorithms, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, Reinforcement Learning, generative models, and multimodal AI systems.

The curriculum condenses the key developments in AI technology over the past 15 years into a structured, accessible format for young learners. Hands-on labs fully leverage project resources from MIT App Inventor, Google Teachable Machine, and AWS DeepRacer, enabling students to build, train, and deploy real AI models through practical experimentation.

ArcGen Academy is currently the only known youth training institution that systematically delivers this comprehensive scope of content. Graduates have achieved outstanding results, including winning the global championship and all U.S. youth awards in the inaugural MIT Global AI Hackathon 2024 (Youth Team Winner: SignLingo project, among others), as well as securing gold medals in WAICY 2025 and other international competitions. Data shows that participation dramatically increases award-winning rates—by more than 100 times in key events.