Tanmay Baskshi the wonder kid

The 13-year-old “Wonder Kid” Tanmay Bakshi who is the youngest IBM Watson developer. He believes that the next frontier for artificial intelligence could well be the diagnosis and treatment of depression.

The 13-year-old kid has no time for playing cricket or worrying about completing his homework as he is busy trying to solve the healthcare issues faced by a disabled girl who is unable to communicate.

Tanmay Bakshi calls himself a “technology explorer”, who is also busy in programming so that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in neural networks. He was also excited while talking about complicated topics like future of artificial intelligence, self-driven cars, cancer treatment and algorithmic Darwin Ecosystem.

The 13-year-old Bakshi, the worlds youngest developer has had a unique past. “I started playing with technology when I was five. Even putting up my name on the computer screen seemed magical,” he said. By the time he was seven, Bakshi had learned multiple coding languages and by Grade III he had developed an app for iOS. Moreover in his YouTube channel, ‘Tanmay Teaches’, he teaches coding, programming, and math.

By the time he became 10 years old, Bakshi had multiple apps and development tutorials. A chance encounter with a documentary on IBM’s artificial intelligence platform Watson pulled him towards AI.

The Kid added,“Currently, I am working on neural algorithms that can identify brainwaves and understand what Bu (the disabled girl) is trying to say. What we are trying to do is read massive amounts of EEG data and analyze it using a mobile device. AI has such huge potential in saving millions of lives in healthcare”.

He seemed extremely confident about the future of AI. He also dismissed fears that AI will replace people. “AI is created by humans to amplify human skills. It will not replace us”. He added, “People speculate that millions of job will be lost due to artificial intelligence and robotics. But it will open up so many more others by lowering barriers to entry. Humans will be able to focus on what actually matters”.

Just like other kids Bakshi also mentioned, “I love biking, playing table tennis, eating butter chicken and would love to meet Amitabh Bachchan to play KBC”.