---
title: 'Building my first open source software with AI: A teenager’s journey into
  innovation for social good.'
pretalx_url: https://pretalx.seagl.org/2024/talk/JQTWQ9/
beginning: '2024-11-09T10:00:00-08:00'
end: '2024-11-09T10:20:00-08:00'
presenters:
- name: Allison Cao
  pretalx_url: https://pretalx.seagl.org/2024/speaker/VCSMXN/
  biography: |-
    I’m Allison Cao, a student at Tumwater Middle School. I have started a few projects such as a pamphlet that helps young girls with knowing more about their periods, and I've recently developed my own web app called DrugScan that can identify whether a drug is addictive or not from just a simple image.

    I like robotics, drawing, manga, kendo, math, and I have a YouTube channel with 4.6k subscribers that displays my drawings! I hope to inspire other people to make a difference in the world, regardless of what they know or do not know.
---

Last summer, driven by a compelling desire to address the public health issue of accidental addiction, I embarked on a personal project: DrugScan, a website designed to identify addictive drugs. As a middle school student with no prior experience in software development, I used open-source frameworks and free tools, such as an AI assistant, to help me build DrugScan. Within a year, I launched it. In this presentation, I will share my experiences and learning journey, highlighting how open-source technologies and AI assistants can serve as crucial resources for teenagers eager to make a difference. My goal is to inspire and empower other young individuals to make a social impact, regardless of technical barriers.
