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When Sasikanth Yangalasetty and Sai Vamsi Chennupati set out to write a book about artificial intelligence, they weren't thinking about universities or tech conferences. They were thinking about a sixth-grader who had never touched a computer.
Their book, "Basics of Computers and Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence," is now a classroom textbook in schools across the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reaching an estimated 50,000 students, and supplementary reading in the United Kingdom. The co-authors live in Farmers Branch, and on Feb. 17 they stood before the City Council and handed Mayor Terry Lynne a copy.
"We are residents of Farmers Branch, and we are very honored and proud to conceptualize this in this community with the support of the mayor and all the leadership here," Yangalasetty told the council.
Lynne came to the meeting having read the book. "I started reading it and I'll tell you what, as an adult you could learn some things from this," he said. "It really put some of the basics of AI into terms that some of us old folks can understand."
The book targets grades 6 through 10, with a focus on underserved students who can't afford online courses or private tutors. Instead of technical jargon, the authors anchor concepts in what kids already know, from YouTube recommendations to Google Maps to voice assistants.
"People think AI is rocket science," said Yangalasetty, a technology professional. "We wanted to break that myth."
Chennupati, a senior software engineer with Western Union Financial System, said the book was as much about ethics as algorithms. A dedicated section walks students through the difference between responsible and destructive uses of the technology, a priority that sharpened after conversations with city leadership.
"We wanted to show the good usage of AI," he said. "What are the cons if you use AI in a negative manner. All of that was considered before we drafted this book."
Both men have run MUKTA, a social organization, since 2019, using it to fund college tuition for academically promising students in India. That work connected them with district educational officers in Andhra Pradesh, and Yangalasetty's grandfather, a retired teacher and principal, helped open those doors. Officers approved the book for school curricula after responding to its visual approach, flow diagrams, illustrations and charts instead of walls of text.
In the UK, administrators added it as supplementary reading after the authors made their case in person, with plans to bring it into the full curriculum next academic year. Back home, Lynne pointed them toward Manske Library and encouraged them to pursue placement in Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Coppell ISDs.
Ravi Kollepara, whose 15-year-old daughter Anvitha is in 9th grade, said something shifted in how she engages with the world around her. "Instead of just asking how to use an app, she's started asking why it works the way it does," he said. "It has demystified the magic behind the screen and replaced it with a sense of logic and possibility."
Anvitha said the book dismantled assumptions she didn't even know she had. Before reading it, AI meant movie robots. Afterward, it meant something closer to home.
"I was surprised to learn that AI is actually all around us, in the way our phones recognize our faces and even how certain games learn how we play," she said. "Now, when I see technology do something smart, I try to guess what kind of data it's using to make that decision."
From Cambridge, England, Rajesh Kasireddy said his 13-year-old in Year 8 took to it immediately and that it highlighted a gap schools haven't yet filled. "There is still a lot of room to help students understand these concepts in a simple and approachable way," he said. "Resources like this book can help bridge that gap."
Vineela Musunuri, a parent whose 12-year-old son Chris is in 7th grade, said the change she noticed was quiet but real. "Sometimes he points out examples of AI in things like apps or online recommendations and tries to connect them with what he learned," she said. Chris summed it up simply. "Technology is more interesting when you understand how it actually works."
Beyond the book, the authors are developing a smart nutrition app to help traveling athletes find suitable food abroad, an idea shaped by conversations with Olympians and Commonwealth Games competitors, and working to upgrade a rural water plant in India using AI-powered sensors to automate filtration and monitor quality.
"Anything you learn in sixth to tenth standard," Yangalasetty told the council, echoing his grandfather, "will actually come with you all through your life."
The book will soon be available at Manske Library in Farmers Branch.
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