18-07-2025
News in Easy English: Fukuoka high school girls win AI contest with study app
FUKUOKA -- A group of high school girls in Fukuoka made a special app to help students study. Their AI club at Fukuoka Girls' Commercial High School created an app that can quickly summarize study notes and books. This project won first prize at a national AI contest in March.
The club has eight members, from first to third year. They learn about AI with help from a coach at an IT company. At first, they tried to make an AI to predict disasters, but they couldn't finish it. So, they decided to solve a problem many students have: not understanding their own class notes.
One student, Nene Takeshita, 17, said, "I write down what's taught in class in my notebook, but I had trouble understanding it when I looked back at it later." Many other students had the same problem. So, the club made a web app called "AI Yoyaku-kun." With this app, students can take photos of their notes or books, or make audio recordings. The app then makes a short, easy summary. It can also help with hard words and make review questions.
The girls showed their app at the GEN-AI Koshien contest in Yamagata. They competed with nine other schools and won the "research-theme AI" prize.
On June 24, the club visited the Fukuoka governor to share their success. The governor said they had worked hard as a team. He also said, "I want to support your efforts."
The app still needs some fixes, but the students want to keep learning about AI and make the app better.
(Japanese original by Keisuke Muneoka, Kyushu News Department)
Vocabulary
summarize: to make a short, simple version of something
app: a computer program, often used on phones or tablets
coach: a person who teaches or helps a team
contest: a competition to see who is best
governor: the leader of a prefecture (area) in Japan
review questions: questions to help you remember what you learned
