Inaugural 'Hour of AI' Event Includes Minecraft, Microsoft, Google and 13.1 Million K-12 Schoolkids

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: Last September, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org pledged to engage 25 million K-12 schoolchildren in an 'Hour of AI' this school year. Preliminary numbers released this week by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition showed that [halfway through the five-day event Computer Science Education Week] 13.1 million users had participated in the inaugural Hour of AI, attaining 52.4% of its goal of 25 million participants.

In a pivot from coding to AI literacy, the Hour of AI replaced Code.org's hugely-popular Hour of Code this December as the flagship event of Computer Science Education Week (December 8-14). According to Code.org's 2024-25 Impact Report, 'in 2024–25 alone, students logged over 100 million Hours of Code, including more than 43 million in the four months leading up to and including CS Education Week.'

Minecraft participated with their own Hour of AI lessons. ('Program an AI Agent to craft tools and build shelter before dusk falls in this iconic challenge!') And Google contributed AI Quests, 'a gamified, in-class learning experience' allowing students to 'step into the shoes of Google researchers using AI to solve real-world challenges.' Other participating organizations included the Scratch Foundation, Lego Education, Adobe, and Roblox.

And Microsoft contributed two — including one with their block-based programming environment Microsoft MakeCode Arcade, with students urged to 'code and train your own super-smart bug using AI algorithms and challenge other AI bugs in an epic Tower battle for ultimate Bug Arena glory!'

See all the educational festivities here...

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