AI playgrounds encourage youth creativity

Amid the powerful wave of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a technological trend with far-reaching impacts across all areas of life. For young people, AI is not only a tool supporting learning, work, and management, but also an opportunity to foster creative thinking, helping them adapt to and conquer new knowledge.

Teams code live during the final round of the 2026 Web AI Hackathon. Photo: Nga Son

Keeping pace with modern trends, a variety of AI-related playgrounds for children and young people have recently been held across Dong Nai City. Through these activities, young people are given opportunities to access new technologies, build confidence in innovation, think boldly, act creatively, and become more proactive in the context of international integration.

From the Web AI Hackathon playground...

Following the success of the Dong Nai Programming Hackathon launched in 2024, the City Youth Union this year continued to coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology and FPT Polytechnic College to organize the Web AI Hackathon. Le Nguyen Minh Tri, Deputy Head of the Youth and Children Affairs Committee under the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the city, said: “Through organizing the competition, we have found that it has strong appeal among union members and students, especially those majoring in information technology at universities and colleges.”

The contest attracted 32 teams from universities and colleges in and outside the city across the Southern region to compete in the qualifying round. Under the theme “Applying Digital Technology, AI and IoT for Education and Business,” teams developed web applications integrated with AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) to solve practical problems related to human resource management, customer relationship management, learning management systems, sales management systems, customer service portals, and smart web applications integrated with AI. From the preliminary round, the organizers selected the 11 best teams to advance to the final round.

AI-related competitions bring many benefits to participants, including opportunities to access AI, improve technology application skills in learning and work, and develop teamwork, logical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Therefore, organizing AI-related activities for young people is extremely necessary, helping them become more confident in approaching new technologies and adapting to learning and working environments in the digital era.”

Phan Le Duy, a third-year student from the Faculty of Information Technology - Communication at Dong Nai Technology University.

Tran Thanh Binh, a student at FPT Polytechnic College – Dong Nai Campus, said the competition was not only an opportunity for IT enthusiasts like himself to demonstrate their abilities but also brought valuable knowledge and practical experience.

Representing the organizing committee of the 2026 Web AI Hackathon, Ho Hoang Chuong, lecturer and Head of the Information Technology Department at FPT Polytechnic College – Dong Nai Campus, said the participating teams’ products were quite compelling. Many teams effectively used AI tools, digital platforms, and social media to create solutions that support businesses in human resource management, financial management, risk management, and improving operational efficiency. This result shows that today’s younger generation has innovative thinking, creativity, and the ability to quickly adapt to digital transformation trends.

...To playgrounds celebrating Dong Nai City

According to a resolution passed by the National Assembly, Dong Nai officially became the country’s seventh city on April 30, 2026. To celebrate the milestone, the City Youth Union organized an AI-based wall newspaper design contest for teachers serving as General Managers of Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organisation (HYPO) at schools across the city. The competition ran from May 2 to May 15.

Cao Tien Dung, a General Manager of  HYPO at Tran Hung Dao Secondary School in Tran Bien Ward, said that under the theme “Dong Nai – The City I Love,” entries were required to demonstrate creativity, aesthetic quality, and meaningful content while conveying excitement, confidence, and expectations among teachers and residents regarding Dong Nai’s future development in a new era. The AI-powered wall newspaper design contest is a fresh and creative playground aligned with today’s digital transformation trend. Combining AI technology with wall newspaper design makes the products more vivid, modern, and diverse in presentation.

As part of a series of activities celebrating the establishment of Dong Nai City, the City Youth and Children Cultural House launched the 2026 AI Creativity Contest for children and young people. Truong Hai Thi, Deputy Director of the City Youth and Children Cultural House, said the contest has two sections: AI-assisted photo editing and creative drawing/video clip production under the theme “My City – Advancing into a New Era,” and AI-assisted music composition under the theme “I Love My City.” “Through these activities, we hope to create a healthy, joyful, and meaningful playground for children and young people, promote their creative thinking, and spread the image of a dynamic, modern, and culturally rich Dong Nai. We also hope that creative activities like these will inspire more new ideas, more meaningful products, and more young people confident in mastering technology to contribute to the development of Dong Nai City in the digital era,” Truong Hai Thi said.

By Nga Son – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho