Free · Self-paced · Student-led
Learn AI.Master AI.Think beyond AI.
NextGenAI teaches students to use AI tools well: get better answers, catch the wrong ones, and keep doing their own thinking.
Great AI education should never be a privilege. We build it free, so every curious student can understand AI, question it, and use it well.
- 8 Prompt Lab challenges
- 5 free courses
- 62+ hours of lessons
Prompt Lab
Challenge 1 of 8
0 answered
What is NextGenAI
Building the next generation of AI thinkers.
NextGenAI is a free, student-led program that makes AI education accessible, engaging, and hands-on for students everywhere. It blends lessons, real examples, and the latest AI news to help students build practical skills and confidence.
Why NextGenAI? Because it is free, self-paced, and built by students who remember what it is like to start from zero. You join a supportive community and learn skills that matter for the future.
What you get
- Self-paced video lessonsLearn anytime, on any device, at your own speed.
- Hands-on practiceThe Prompt Lab and real examples that show how AI applies to the world around you.
- Clear breakdowns of big topicsMachine learning, AI in medicine, engineering, cybersecurity, and ethics, made understandable.
- Latest AI news and explainersStudent-written posts on AI tools and breakthroughs.
- Certificates of completionIssued by the NextGenAI team to recognize the work you finish.
How it works
Learn it, practice it, prove it.
Everything is free and self-paced. You never wait for a class to start.
01
Learn
Short video lessons built around real examples. The skills carry across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and whatever comes next.
02
Practice
Try the Prompt Lab: you choose, you see the reasoning behind every option, and you try again.
03
Certify
Finish a course and earn a certificate of completion from the NextGenAI team.
Courses
Learn AI at your own pace.
Five free courses are open now. Create a free account to unlock them all. Anyone can join.
Intro to AI
What AI is, how machine learning works, language, vision, ethics, and where AI is heading.
Start courseAI in Medicine
How AI learns from health data, reads medical images, supports decisions, and raises new ethical questions.
Start courseAI in Engineering
AI in design, simulation, manufacturing, infrastructure, aerospace, and transportation.
Start courseAI and Cybersecurity
AI threats and vulnerabilities, defense tools, malware analysis, privacy, and adversarial attacks.
Start courseAI Ethics and Society
Bias, fairness, privacy, and security in AI, and what they mean for the people it affects.
Start courseFree with a NextGenAI account. Open any course and sign up, or log in if you already have one.
Sign up and start learningAI Optimization Masterclass
A planned course on getting better results from AI assistants: prompting, reasoning workflows, choosing the right model, and spotting hallucinations. Eight lessons, beginner to intermediate. Not yet released.
- Understanding AI tools and their strengths
- Prompt engineering fundamentals
- Advanced prompting and context management
- AI for research and fact-checking
- AI for learning and productivity
- Automating repetitive digital tasks
- Spotting hallucinations and privacy risks
- Final practical assessment
Why now
Most teens use AI for schoolwork. Few were taught how to use it well.
- 70%
- of surveyed U.S. teens report using AI for schoolwork.
- 27%
- say a teacher has ever talked with them about how to use AI safely.
Source: Common Sense Media, nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 U.S. teens, released August 18, 2026. Read the research. These are Common Sense Media's findings, not NextGenAI's.
About NextGenAI
Hey, I'm Nathan.
I started NextGenAI with a simple belief: everyone deserves the chance to understand and use artificial intelligence, no matter their background, age, or access to resources.
Growing up in a world where AI is transforming everything, from how we learn to how we treat diseases, I realized that too many students are left out of that conversation. They hear the buzzwords, but don't get the tools. That's where NextGenAI comes in.
We build real, beginner-friendly AI education, taught by students, for students. Our courses break big ideas like machine learning, AI in medicine, and ethical tech into something relatable and practical.
We started by running a workshop with a few elementary schools, and we've shared NextGenAI with schools in Sri Lanka. We believe AI isn't just for coders. It's for future doctors, designers, entrepreneurs, and change-makers.
Whether you're here to explore, learn, or teach, you belong here. Let's build something smarter together.
Nathan Leitan, Founder, NextGenAI
“We plan to create a generation who fully understands the full possibilities and potential of AI.”
Learn anytime, on any device, and learn from student leaders who know how to make it stick.
Project history
How NextGenAI came together.
January 2024: the start
NextGenAI was founded by Nathan Leitan.
What we built
Five free courses, a blog, and live classes and workshops taught by our team.
Early workshops and outreach
We started with a workshop for a few elementary schools, and have since shared NextGenAI with schools in Sri Lanka.
What's next
Self-paced practice tools like the Prompt Lab, and more courses and resources.
Research & Impact
What we've built, what's planned, and what we haven't done yet.
We label planned work as planned and report only what we can support.
- Founded: January 2024
- Free courses: 5
- Lessons: 62+ hours
- Student team: 9 members
- Self-reported by the NextGenAI team, not independently verified.
Blog
Tools, news, and explainers for students.
Posts open with a free account.
Team
Executive Leadership Team
Nine members across four departments: one founder and eight directors.
Founder & Executive Director
Nathan Leitan
Education & Technology
Raveen Fernando
Director of AI Curriculum & Education
Deepanshu Vankayalapati
Director of AI Product & Technology
Marketing & Outreach
Molly O'Brien
Director of Marketing & Communications
Enya Ma
Director of Outreach & Partnerships
Operations & Partnerships
Beckett Boness
Director of Operations
Rafael Pikofsky-Christiansen
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Community & Impact
Derek Jaucian
Director of Community & Engagement
Rohan Rai
Director of Research & Analytics
Contact
Say hi, ask a question, or join in.
Want to learn, teach, or bring NextGenAI to your school? Write to us.