# AI+Education Summit 2026: Create+AI Challenge Ceremony Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNL8PSx-4O4 Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/CNL8PSx-4O4 Generated: 2026-02-19T18:41:55.988+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview The 2026 Create+AI Challenge Award Ceremony concluded with the presentation of awards to winning teams, including Read Sidekick, which focuses on translating English text to ASL using a fine-tuned model incorporating spatial quadrants and facial expressions, and other teams recognized for their innovative solutions in AI and education. **Key Points:** - The event was the 2026 Create+AI Challenge Award Ceremony, hosted by the Stanford Accelerator for Learning with support from Google.org. - Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca introduced the challenge, which launched at the Stanford Accelerator Tech Summit in November, aiming to surface innovations that augment human potential rather than replace human effort. - Hiroshi Mendoza shared his personal motivation, stemming from his experience moving to the US at 18 with no English and his deaf brother's struggle with literacy, leading to the development of Read Sidekick. - Read Sidekick is an English Text to ASL Translator that maps text components (Spatial Quadrant, Facial Expression, Indicator, Classifier) into animations, unlike traditional translation based on ASL-gloss data. - Statistics on U.S. Adult Literacy Proficiency showed 28% low literacy (59 Million) and 29% basic proficiency (61.6 Million) for modern workplace skills. - The ceremony included recognizing multiple winning teams with awards, featuring presentations from organizers Isabelle Hau and Torie Bates, and concluding remarks from Hiroshi Mendoza. - The final segment showed several winning teams, including Read Sidekick, and teams from AI+Education Summit projects like Math Adoption Playbook (for children with autism) and Scratch for 4.0. ![Screenshot at 00:02: Presenters Isabelle Hau \(Executive Director, Stanford Accelerator for Learning\), Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca \(Project Manager, Education Entrepreneurship Hub\), and Torie Bates \(EdTech Innovation Program Manager, Google.org\) are introduced on screen at the start of the award ceremony.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-00-02.jpg) **Context:** This video captures the award ceremony for the 2026 Create+AI Challenge, an initiative by the Stanford Accelerator for Learning supported by Google.org. The ceremony highlights projects focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence to augment human potential in education. The speakers, including Executive Director Isabelle Hau, Google Manager Torie Bates, and Founder Hiroshi Mendoza, emphasize the need for human-centered AI design, drawing inspiration from personal challenges related to language barriers and disability advocacy. ## Detailed Analysis The video documents the 2026 Create+AI Challenge Award Ceremony, kicking off with greetings from Isabelle Hau and Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca, who frame the challenge around thinking about how AI can augment human potential in learning environments. Hiroshi Mendoza then shares his personal story, motivated by his lack of English proficiency upon moving to the US and his deaf brother's struggles with literacy, leading to the creation of Read Sidekick. He shows statistics indicating significant adult literacy challenges in the US (28% low literacy). Mendoza demonstrates Read Sidekick, an English Text to ASL translator that uses a novel schema incorporating spatial quadrants and facial expressions to generate rich ASL animations, contrasting it with older, gloss-based translation methods. The ceremony proceeds with the presentation of awards to winning teams: Read Sidekick (Hiroshi Mendoza, Christine Chelakkattu, Ratheesh Chelakkattu, Guadalupe Valdés listed as team/advisors), the team from AI Studio (who won for a project involving English Text to ASL translation), the team from Math Adoption Playbook (for children with autism), and the team from Scratch 4.0. The event concludes with the presentation of awards to all winning teams and closing remarks. ### Opening Remarks & Challenge Context - Isabelle Hau welcomes attendees - Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca introduces the challenge's goal: augment human potential with AI - The challenge launched at the Stanford Accelerator Tech Summit in November. ### Personal Motivation & Problem Space - Hiroshi Mendoza shares his background (no English at 18, deaf brother struggling with literacy) - U.S. Adult Literacy Proficiency stats show 28% low literacy and 29% basic proficiency among ages 16-65. ### Read Sidekick Solution Demo - Read Sidekick translates English text to ASL using a schema mapping Spatial Quadrant, Facial Expression, Indicator, and Classifier tokens to animations - This differs from current LLMs trained on antiquated ASL-gloss data. ### Award Presentations - First Winners - Hiroshi Mendoza acknowledges the judges and reviewers - Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca introduces the first award winners (Read Sidekick team) - Hiroshi Mendoza and Torie Bates congratulate them. ### Award Presentations - Subsequent Winners - Awards are given to the AI Studio team, Math Adoption Playbook team (for autism), and Scratch 4.0 team - The ceremony concludes with a large group photo of presenters and winners. ![Screenshot at 00:00: Title slide for the 2026 Create+AI Challenge Award Ceremony, supported by Stanford Accelerator for Learning and Google.org.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-00-00.jpg) ![Screenshot at 00:11: Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca speaking about the challenge's goal to rethink how AI shows up in learning.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-00-11.jpg) ![Screenshot at 03:02: Hiroshi Mendoza introduces his product, Read Sidekick, designed to 'Draw meaning from any text'.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-03-02.jpg) ![Screenshot at 04:14: Slide detailing U.S. Adult Literacy Proficiency, showing 28% Low Literacy and 29% Basic Proficiency among adults \(Ages 16-65\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-04-14.jpg) ![Screenshot at 07:47: Slide comparing current LLM translation of 'That landscape looks beautiful' \(ChatGPT/Gemini\) to Read Sidekick's schema-based output \(SQ:LRB-all-around see FE:PLD-beautiful\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CNL8PSx-4O4/00-07-47.jpg)