TL; DR India produces world-class AI talent at the school level (like 16 yo Raul John Aju, 8 yo Ranvir Sachdeva) that flows almost entirely into building AI tools, not AI safety, governance, or x-risks work. We aim to bring a unique AI championship to Indian schools that not only exposes students to AI safety, governance, and risk concepts from the start but also glamorizes working in those roles, thereby creating the pre-pipeline from which future BlueDot Impact, MATS fellows, and independent researchers emerge. 10 introductory workshops in schools done. We aim to do 50 workshops across 10 cities as Phase 1. We are requesting $318,990.36 to execute it.

Project summary:

India produces AI prodigies like 16 yo Raul John Aju, and 8 yo Ranvir Sachdeva, and the default path for top‑percentile Indian students is to become AI builders or content creators. Almost none of this talent flows toward AI safety, governance, or x‑risk research: those careers barely exist as concepts in the Indian school ecosystem. India is rapidly rolling out AI curricula and some ethical‑AI content, along with cybersecurity‑focused AI safety campaigns, but there is still no structured program that identifies and nurtures school‑age talent specifically for AI safety, governance, and existential risk fields.

Our mission is to intervene at the formative 6th–8th grade level and redirect this high‑potential human capital into safety‑aware pathways. We believe AI literacy is about judgment, not just AI tool use: current school programs focus on using AI, while we build students who understand what AI can do wrong, can reason about risks, and know that safety, governance, and x‑risk are serious research fields. Our AI Championship is this missing pre‑pipeline: a gamified, high‑leverage “top‑of‑funnel” mechanism that deepens AI risk literacy (alignment, robustness, governance, etc.) and funnels early‑identified prodigies toward elite safety ecosystems like BlueDot Impact and MATS, transforming the next generation of AI builders into safety‑aware thinkers and solvers.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Our theory of change is top‑of‑funnel awareness at a scale the AI safety field has not yet attempted in India.
The AI safety ecosystem already has strong mid‑ and late‑funnel infrastructure: BlueDot Impact courses, MATS fellowships, AI safety hackathons, and university groups. What it lacks almost entirely is an early funnel: the moment a 13‑year‑old in Chennai or Ahmedabad first realizes/hears that AI has risks worth thinking about seriously. We aim to create that moment.

Here's the nudge mechanism:

• Awareness layer (us): Students from grades 6th-8th encounter AI safety, governance, and x-risk concepts through a competitive, engaging championship format, not as a lecture, but as something they want to win. Concepts include not just AI harms like deepfake misuse and algorithmic bias, but genuinely x-risk adjacent questions: what happens when AI systems pursue misaligned goals? Who controls AI when it becomes more capable than its designers? These ideas land differently at 13 than they do at 23, and that's exactly the point

• Sustained engagement: Daily 30-minute peer learning sessions with AI safety, governance, and x-risk concepts. Each session ends with:

  • One real, open AI risk problem (e.g., how to encode human values into AI) to be discussed in the next session. This is not rhetorical; we track the quality of their reasoning over time. We aggregate scores across sessions to track conceptual development over time

  • One concrete, actionable, age‑appropriate, responsible AI tip/activity (e.g., “spot hallucinations”), building judgment alongside understanding

These sessions are, in effect, a lightweight, school‑ready version of BlueDot Impact courses

• Directed exit ramp: Students who show strong interest are explicitly guided toward BlueDot Impact courses, MATS fellowships, AI safety reading groups, and similar pathways. We don’t just point them in the direction; we help them navigate the application process and follow through until they’re admitted

• Cultural shift & glamorization of these roles: The championship runs at the School → Inter-school → City → State → National levels. Students represent their schools and communities, the same motivational structure as the Science Olympiad or Bournvita Quiz Contest. Over time, "AI safety researcher" becomes as legible a career aspiration in India as "AI builder", because students have seen it, heard it, and watched peers pursue it. We aim to eventually broadcast the national finals on OTT/TV as the cultural glamorization layer that makes these roles aspirational at scale

We are not claiming to produce MATS fellows from 8th grade. We are claiming to create the awareness layer that makes Indian students reachable by the field when they arrive at university, analogous to what EA university groups do, but one full cycle earlier and at a significantly greater scale.

3 phases to the AI Championship:

Phase 1 (this grant): 50 independent workshops across 10 Indian cities, primarily during summer vacations for maximum reach. 1,500 middle schoolers. We are asking Manifund to fund this, not the full vision

Phase 2 (contingent on Phase 1 outcomes + further funding): More workshops and daily peer learning sessions embedded in schools, scaling through school → inter-school → city → state level competitions. ~30,000 students across India

Phase 3 (contingent on Phase 2 outcomes + further funding): State finalists compete at the National AI Championship. Finals broadcast on OTT/TV. The moment "AI safety" becomes aspirational at scale in India

How will this funding be used?

Funding Goal: $318,990.36

Program expenses (AI workshops, travel, communications): $ 173,090.39

Staff (Course facilitators/interns, social media manager, video editor): $ 46,596

Overhead (Coworking space, Google Workspace, Gamified AI Risk Literacy Platform): $ 35,505.9

Minimum Funding: $275,614.81

Program expenses (AI workshops, travel, communications): $ 173,090.39

Staff (Course facilitators/interns, Directors will do social media mgmt & video editing): $ 26,400

Overhead (Coworking space, Google Workspace, Website with limited features instead of a Gamified AI Risk Literacy Platform): $ 21,001.46

Detailed budget here

Testimonials

School AI Workshops:

"I never thought AI had so many unsolved problems. This made me want to actually understand AI, not just use it."

— Vihaan Vaghela, 7th Grade, Divine Child School, Mehsana, Gujarat

"In my experience, I've rarely seen students this engaged in a topic outside of exams. Aashka brought something we didn't know we were missing. We've had many AI programs come through. This is the first one where teachers came to me afterward asking when it's happening again."

— Lata Narayan, Principal, Shreyas Foundation, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Podcast:

"Aashka has a rare ability to bring smart people together and make complex AI topics approachable in a way that her audience can understand, get excited about, and feel inspired by.  She creates thoughtful conversations that are both accessible and insightful, and she does it with a warmth and curiosity that makes people want to be part of what she’s building."

— AJ Debole, Field CISO @ Oracle

"I was extremely impressed by Aashka's podcast – her questions, the other guest, the edits and advertising. It was one of the most interesting and informative podcasts I had the pleasure to be on in 2025."

— Prof. Joanna Bryson, Prof. of Ethics & Technology @ Hertie School

"My podcast episode with On AIR with Aashka was a fantastic experience. It is truly valuable and informative for both participants and listeners to have an interviewer who possesses a deep understanding of the content, facilitates an excellent conversation, and poses intelligent and profound questions. Aashka distinguishes herself from most AI commentary by making complex ideas and knowledge genuinely accessible. She is adept at asking incisive questions and connecting the appropriate individuals."

— Scot Bryson, General Partner @ Impactful Capital & Founder @ Orbital Farm

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Founded in 2021, EduHelp is a non-profit working to expand access to better education for deserving students. Today, we are expanding into AI education: building programs that empower students and help shape a safer, more humane future. Through our AI championship, we aim to build India’s AI safety talent pre‑pipeline for middle‑schoolers.

Aashka Patel, Director @ EduHelp, Founder @ On AIR with Aashka (AI Championship Lead)

Self-funded through personal savings:

• Created AI Safety comics adopted by the AI Education Network (founded by Katharina Koerner) in Bay Area K-12 schools, proof that AI safety communication works for students, built independently, and was trusted by practitioners in the ecosystem

• Conducted 10 AI workshops + 2 private workshops with 6th-8th grade students. Every insight in this application comes from being in the room with the students that this program is designed for

• In active discussions with IASEAI (Stuart Russell, Amir Banifatemi) and the Bureau of Indian Standards to translate "AI Nutrition Labels for Everyday Consumers" research from theory into a formal standard. Special thanks to JueYan Zhang and other folks on Manifund for funding my IASEAI travel :)

• Bug Bounty Hunter at Anthropic: identifying CBRN threats in frontier AI models keeps me grounded in frontier AI risks

• As a Founder @ On AIR with Aashka,

  • Podcast with upcoming confirmed guest Yoshua Bengio, with past episodes with White House AI policy experts, US Senate advisors, environmental sustainability researchers & architects, AI Ethics Professors, etc.

  • "AI Ki Adalat": a courtroom-format video series examining real AI incidents, that inspired 1500+ Indian college students toward safety careers without doomerism

  • "Mummy Padhegi AI," a tea-time video series for Indian mothers, because as Napoleon said, "Give me an educated mother, and I shall promise you the birth of a civilized nation" (Not public yet, but educated 2000+ Indian mothers through sessions)

• AI Governance sessions at HSBC India, DataCamp, and colleges, demonstrating the ability to translate AI safety concepts across audiences, from boardrooms to classrooms

D Kadikar, Founder @ EduHelp (Executive Advisor)

With five years of on-the-ground presence with EduHelp in India's school and student ecosystem, he gives us immediate access to school networks and student communities that would otherwise take years to build independently. With nearly 40 years of entrepreneurial experience across India and the UK, he advises on growth strategy, student & school outreach, and the operational realities of working within India's education landscape at scale

Reena Patel, My Super Mom (Operations)

She has been the backbone of every workshop or event we have run to date, from managing school coordination to logistics, finances, and every small thing. Decades of running a household have built precisely the skills operations demand: resource management under constraints, coordination across multiple stakeholders, and execution without the luxury of failure. She doesn't have a LinkedIn profile, but she has a track record

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

1. Low Redirection Rate & The "AI Builder" Inertia

• Cause: The "AI builder" narrative in India is very strong. Even with successful workshops, students may default to high-prestige, traditional paths: building consumer wrapper-apps or becoming AI influencers, rather than pursuing AI safety, governance, or x-risks careers.

• Outcome: We fail to hit our "Elite Funnel" targets to BlueDot Impact or MATS. However, even in this scenario, we achieve a high-leverage secondary win: shaping the public opinion of an entire generation and their families, a strategy quoted by Yoshua Bengio to be a potential "game-changer" for global coordination

• Mitigation:

  • Social Prestige: We are positioning the National AI Championship to make "AI safety or governance or x-risk research" as culturally celebrated as the National Spelling Bee

  • Parental Alignment: Since Indian parents are key career gatekeepers, we translate "Safety & Governance" into a high-demand, high-stability career ROI that resonates with them

  • Aspirational Validation: By connecting students with global leaders (already in talks with Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Stuart Russell), we provide the ultimate career "nudge." A pivot to research becomes inevitable when it is validated by the "Godfathers of AI"

2. The Complexity Gap

• Cause: Middle-schoolers (6th–8th grade) might find high-level AI alignment and technical safety concepts too abstract or mathematically intimidating

• Outcome: Students disengage from the championship, treating it as too complex or intimidating, leading to lower retention and a failure to build true "AI Judgment"

• Mitigation: We employ a rigorous "accessible language" pedagogy that translates complex research into intuitive, brain-friendly frameworks. By removing the barrier of technical jargon, we create a high-confidence "on-ramp." This acts as a strategic bridge, preparing students to eventually pursue advanced programs like BlueDot Impact or MATS without the typical "technical complexity intimidation". Our pilots have already demonstrated a 65%+ increase in confidence rates using this methodology

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

Zero external funding.

Entirely self-funded through personal savings. Currently operating on a ₹36,858 (~$392.36) runway.

Currently applying to: Coefficient Giving, EA Long-Term Future Fund

Why April matters: Our 10 school workshops and 2 independent pilots were conducted just before final exams, hence schools didn't allow daily peer learning sessions to protect students' study time, which is exactly right. Summer vacations (May–June) are the window: no exam pressure, maximum availability, maximum impact. We need to raise the funds in April to execute in May.

As per Stuart Russell, we still have a decent chance of guaranteeing AI safety, but only if enough of the right people work on it. India is producing world-class technical talent at scale, almost none of it pointed at safety. We are trying to change that.

I believe in the idea of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - The whole world is like one (my) family" and don’t want to jeopardize the very existence of my family due to unsafe AI advancement. That's why this exists🌻

I will be very happy to be contacted and share more details about this AI Championship if anyone has any feedback or questions!
Email: aashka@eduhelp.org.in

Any support would make a huge huge huge difference ❤️

Thanks a ton in advance,

Aashka Patel 🤗