Aga Khan, Kisu students develop AI apps to tackle health, road safety
Michael Bryan (left), an instructor from Oxford University, and Varsha Sandadi, a co-instructor from MIT, pose with students from Aga Khan High School and Kampala International School Uganda at KISU’s main library on April 11, 2025 after presenting their AI projects to parents. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- The initiative signals a growing interest in AI among Uganda’s youth and aims to encourage locally relevant innovations in public health and safety.
Students from Aga Khan High School and Kampala International School Uganda (KISU) are developing artificial intelligence (AI) applications to tackle healthcare and road safety challenges in Uganda, with support from global tech instructors.
The 24 students, aged between 14 and 18, have been undergoing a two-week intensive AI training led by Michael Bryan, an instructor from Oxford University, and Varsha Sandadi, a recent graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“We’ve covered Python, code writing, interpretation, and real-world application to different models,” Bryan said.
He added: “It hasn’t been easy—especially using images and text datasets—but the transformation in how the students think and create is already evident.”
Bryan noted that the students have already built several working prototypes, including an app that detects pneumonia from medical scans, a music recommendation system using Spotify data, a distracted-driving detection app, and a tool for identifying colorectal cancer.
“When I introduced Python, some students thought it was a snake,” he joked. “Now they’re using it to solve serious problems.”
Sandadi described the experience as “phenomenal,” praising the students' ability to design AI solutions without any formal programming background.
“They developed apps using basic datasets, creating healthcare tools with real potential,” she said. “Some are even capable of designing tools to detect fake news in journalism.”
One such student, Shaun Munene from Aga Khan High School, helped create the app to reduce distracted driving. His team trained their AI model on over 7,600 images showing various driver postures, such as using phones or drinking coffee, to predict unsafe behavior and issue real-time alerts.
“If the driver is taking coffee or looking away, the AI recognizes it and sends a warning,” Munene explained. “You can source images from Google or create your own to train the system.”
Another student, Shaun Henry Kayanja, led the team behind an app for detecting colorectal cancer. “We gathered numerous colon images and trained the AI to identify cancerous patterns,” he said.
