Ontario Tech Students Earn Top Five Finish at National AI Competition with Indigenous Language Platform

A team of three students from Ontario Tech University placed in the top five at the national Design for Change pitch competition hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University, according to Ontario Tech University. The team consisted of Anupriya Dubey, Nishtha Desai, and Mosarrat Rumman. They developed an offline, AI-powered education platform called EduLine for the event.

The competition challenged participants to use generative artificial intelligence to address educational barriers in Canada. The Ontario Tech team focused on improving access to learning resources in rural areas and preserving Indigenous languages using AI, according to statements from team members.

The team said EduLine was designed to run on low-resource devices and work without constant internet connectivity. Desai stated that the group created a lightweight, efficient AI model for this purpose. Rumman noted that they worked closely with experts from the National Research Council of Canada to refine their approach. According to Dubey, their goal was to address the digital divide by providing tools for both coding education and Indigenous language preservation.

Judges at the competition commended the team’s research into access challenges in remote and northern areas and recognized the project’s emphasis on educational opportunities for underserved Indigenous communities. They also highlighted the inclusion of coding education and the team’s adherence to research ethics while developing their platform.

Ontario Tech University stated that the Design for Change competition invites university students across Canada to propose technology-driven solutions for educational challenges.