AI Helps Students Solve Everyday Problems: Spotlight on FindIt

At IGF, we keep an eye on recent innovations in the world of AI and solutions that are made with the help of AI. What really inspired us recently is an innovative app developed by 15-year-old Neil Kumar, a freshman at Bellevue High School in Washington. So, what makes this app special, you might ask. And we have an answer for it! FindIt app helps evolve lost-and-found system, making it more efficient and practical to use. It also helps to recover misplaced items in schools, workplaces, and public spaces. So, today, we’re going to talk about the app and why it’s innovative.

How FindIt Uses AI to Simplify Lost-and-Found

Let’s find out what makes this app special and why it’s worth using. So, how does it work? All you need to do is upload the photo to the app. Then, AI in the app analyzes the photo and creates a unique description for it that helps to find it. For example, you uploaded the photo, and AI creates the next description: “blue water bottle with red sticker and white top.” Individuals searching for lost items can input their own descriptions, and the AI matches them with the available listings.

Such an approach helps people find their items faster, without visiting the same place again and again. Moreover, the process of finding becomes even more reliable. The app is currently deployed at Odle Middle School and will be piloted at Bellevue College to test usability and effectiveness among students, staff, and visitors.

Recognition and Potential Applications

The app appeared to be effective in lost-and-found items, and Kumar even received national attention due to this. Moreover, he was selected as one of four innovators in Bellevue’s Civic Innovation Challenge. Not only at school, he became popular also throughout the US, ranked among the top 300 junior innovators through the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge.

Every year, there are reports of more than 400 million lost items in the US with an estimated value of over $5 billion. Such apps that help find lost items influence not only people’s well-being, but also the economy and environmental considerations. Fewer items lost, fewer litter in creates in the environment.

The future for the app is promising, and it surely is going to spread around the US. We, at IGF, believe that such innovators and inventors have a chance to be successful entrepreneurs in the future. Their will in creating something new usually starts with small things. They create, we support. Contact us if you’re a startup or investor. We help you find each other.