The AI in Motion Club (AIM) met and hosted Andy Shen, a Harvard Westlake and UCLA alumnus who is now a software engineer for IXL, for a virtual lesson with students. Shen aimed to spread awareness for, and teach students how to circumnavigate through, the new era of computer programming with AIs such as Claude and Gemini.
AIM made its debut in early March and is a new addition to the HW club’s. It is run by Madeleine Tao ‘29, alongside faculty co-advisors Richard Wang and Jessica Kaufman.
Andy spoke of how in today’s world AI is a necessary tool for Software engineering. He went on to explain the importance of AI and how to use it to its full potential.
“I came into the room confident about my abilities,” Nathan Ajmeera ’29 said. “However, Andy Shen helped further open my eyes to the true potential of AI.”
Ajmeera described his experience with Shen as a great review of the basics and lesson of the limitless potential of AI.
“AI can write code for you, but it can’t want for you,” Shen said.
Shen began by explaining that AI is only limited by the creativity of the person using it. And as long as you know the basics it can be a tool that helps you and humanity push towards a brighter future
Shen’s main goal was to teach students how to use AI so he went on to explain what a terminal is and how to utilize it. After which he explained key software and programs to learn such as an “LLM” an “agent” and “tools.” Then, he explained and gave examples of these softwares and programs in action. Finally he finished off by helping each person in the room with downloading gemini ai to a terminal.
“People need to understand that AI is here to stay, and it’s time people learn how to use it right.” Owen Kim ‘29 said
