High schooler didn't see enough girls studying AI, so she built her own company

For one high school student in New Jersey, a single computer science competition fueled a mission to get more teenage girls interested in artificial intelligence, or AI.

Ishani Singh, now 17, was a freshman at High Technology High School in 2021 when she attended a state computer science competition, where she noticed she was only one of a few female students competing.

When Singh went onto compete in the regional competition, she said she was "shocked" to see that she was the only female student competing.

"I looked around and there were, like, zero girls, and I was like, 'OK,'" Singh told ABC News in an interview airing on "The Year: 2024," an annual special airing Dec. 26 on ABC. "That felt a little weird."

The experience inspired Singh, now a high school senior, to launch Girls Rule AI, which aims to empower young women to learn about AI, a term that, according to NASA, "refers to computer systems that can perform complex tasks normally done by human-reasoning, decision making, creating, etc."

Since the start of the organization nearly three years ago, Girls Rule AI has taught free courses on AI to over 200 girls in 25 states and six countries around the world, including Kenya and Afghanistan, according to Singh.

Gloria Mwangi, a Girls Rule AI instructor in Kenya, said she believes women working in AI-related fields could be transformative.

"In Kenya, the interest in tech and AI is definitely growing," Mwangi told ABC News. "I think AI has a lot of potential to make a difference for young women here."

Singh added that the success of her company, she believes, has been in making AI more accessible to more girls.

"I think it's just because girls are a little afraid to just start on this journey in the first place," Singh said of the gender difference in AI. "So, I think by creating this community, I was able to make girls feel a little more more comfortable and just get them more confident in this field."

Even with the progress, Singh said she feels there is a lot of work to do when it comes to getting girls interested in AI so they can go onto careers in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, industries.

According to the American Association of University Women, women currently make up 34% of the STEM workforce and are particularly outnumbered by men in fast-growing and high-paying fields like engineering and computer science.

"We're not at the level that we should be," Singh said. "I think there should be more women in the tech field."

Singh added that she believes the more young girls who become interested in AI, the greater the experience will be for all people who use the technology.

"If we have this growing surge of interest among girls and women in the field ... they'll be able to provide valuable input into the AI models that we're putting out into the world these days," she said. "So, it's great to see that people have the same passion that I do."

Tune into "The Year: 2024" on Thursday, Dec. 26, at 9 p.m. EST on ABC, and stream it on Hulu starting Friday, Dec. 27.