More than 200 young learners on Friday participated in an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled coding and robotics competition in Kiambu County, central Kenya.

The Enjoy AI Kenya championship was sponsored by a coalition of non-profit organisations, including Code with Kids and the Arigatou International-hosted SDG Academy for Children.

The top-performing teams from the competition are now set to travel to China to represent Kenya on the global stage.

Renice Owino, the founder of Code with Kids, a Nairobi-based organisation that promotes digital literacy among vulnerable children and youth, said that the day-long event will gauge the aptitude of contestants in AI, coding and robotics and how they can be harnessed to realize the United Nations (UN) 2030 goals in Kenya.

“The Enjoy AI competition is held every year in Kenya and China, where learners are able to build robots, programme them and solve different challenges which they are given within a certain duration of time,” Owino said.

She said that building competencies of young learners in AI and robotics is key to preparing them for technologically-enabled jobs of the future, tackling unemployment and accelerating the growth of Kenya’s digital economy.

Fred Nyabera, the director of End Child Poverty at Arigatou International, said the competition provides a space for children to learn innovation and co-create solutions that advance all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

“It is a motivation and a catalyst for children to engage in tech and especially AI-related issues,” Nyabera said, underscoring the need for China-Africa collaboration to promote sound use of AI.

Cliford Otieno, director of Pawatech Solutions, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering youth with digital skills, said that the event is intentionally designed to foster peer learning, mentorship and real-world exposure.

He added that 20 Kenyan children travelled to China in 2025 for the global finals, an experience that dramatically sparked their creativity, innovation and capacity for community-centred problem solving.

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report