The extent to which classmates and teachers were investing in cryptocurrencies caused Taha Fared and Jevin Joy of St. Patrick's College in lucano, Co Dublin, to develop their own computer model using artificial intelligence to predict future cryptocurrency values.
Having learned about machine learning and algorithms with the help of video tutorials, the 15-year-olds are about to launch a website where the public can use their model to predict the course of their investments.
Cryptocurrencies, which allow payments to be made electronically, may not yet be the dominant form of financial transaction, but this may soon change as they may be more secure in preventing fraud, according to Jevin, although people often they are frightened by its fluctuations in value.
The students' model, which evaluates past data to predict future valuations, has remarkable accuracy, Jevin added. This is indicated by โlow lossesโ, confirming reliability in a world where fluctuations are the norm.
His method uses Bayes' theorem and Bayesian optimization to improve AI, and is among the projects underway at this year's edition. BT Young Scientists and Technology Expo (BTYSTE), which began on Wednesday. "It's unbelievably good and better [than] the best model we have come across in our researchโ, adds Taha about his method. "We are very happy with what we have achieved, but we know there are many further improvements we can make."
Veteran Young Scientists
The third year high school students are veterans of BTYSTE, this year being the third time they have entered. Overall contest winners often spend several years in their preferred area of โโresearch before earning top honors. Surprisingly, however, under the guidance of his computer science teacher kevin carey, the students have had entries on three different topics.
The first was about the use of computer technology to help people with autism reduce their sensitivity to the brightness of lights and the volume of sounds. Meanwhile, last year's entry was about software that implements game theory to improve strategy in a computer game, for which they won an award. This year they hope to be back in the winners' enclosure.
