Meeting with Lauren Ramanantsoa, MX24, co-chair of the ‘X’s Got Talent’ art competition

After completing her secondary education at French schools in New York and Hong Kong, Lauren Ramanantsoa chose to study for a Bachelor’s degree in Physics (with a specialisation in Mathematics and Statistics) at UCL (University College London). These international experiences shaped her character and deepened her curiosity about other cultures. ʽMy educational journey gave me the opportunity to meet people from a variety of backgrounds. I was immersed in multiculturalism throughout my studies. This made it easier for me to open up to others and sparked my desire to build connections between people,ʼ she tells us.

Science as a bridge

From a very young age, she has been driven by two passions that, at first glance, seem to be at odds: fashion and science. In 2019, she took part in her high school’s Color Vision fashion show in Hong Kong, where she was the youngest designer at the event. She showcased four streetwear outfits, made from fabric scraps or fabrics with imperfections. ʽFashion and science are based on the same way of thinking. In both fields, it is essential to think logically and connect the available elements. They rely on rigour, agility and creativity.ʼ She wavered between these two passions before deciding to pursue an academic and professional career in science, and to treat fashion as a hobby. Her science degree reinforced her choice, particularly her two internships in artificial intelligence (AI). The first was at CFC Underwriting, an insurance company, where she worked on the use of the ChatGPT chatbot by internal teams; the second was at the start-up BX, where she was responsible for setting up the automatic cleaning of data from American farmers to facilitate its processing and the issuance of recommendations on sustainability and yield for their farms. ʽAs well as acquiring technical skills in AI, I believe it is important to prioritise the responsible and ethical use of this technology. AI is a tool that should improve people’s daily lives, whether in insurance, healthcare or the agri-food sector, by handling time-consuming administrative tasks, for example. We must be mindful of its impact on society and work for the common good through technological advances,ʼ explains Lauren Ramanantsoa.

Master of Science & Technology: cultural and academic diversity

In 2024, she enrolled on the Master of Science & Technology programme in Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Visual Computing at École Polytechnique. ʽI wanted to reconnect with the French education system, which I had enjoyed at secondary school. The rigour in mathematics and, more generally, in science at École Polytechnique encouraged me to choose this Master’s programme. The course is also taught entirely in English, which is a real added value, as it attracts students from around the world. Alongside this cultural diversity comes academic richness, with over a dozen specialisations offered within this Master of Science & Technology programme: AI, of course, connected devices, finance, economics, energy, the environment, cinema… with courses in management and entrepreneurship alongside the technical subjects.ʼ

It was, in fact, these two robotics modules in her second year of her Master’s degree that introduced her to this field, which she had not previously been familiar with, and prompted her to undertake her end-of-course placement at a start-up specialising in artificial intelligence for robotic manipulation: Gobano Robotics. ʽThis start-up designs robotic arms. Their tasks include, for example, folding clothes and recycling objects… which saves us time.ʼ These are the many applications that Lauren Ramanantsoa hopes to put to good use in her professional career. ʽThanks to its interdisciplinary nature, the Master of Science & Technology opens up many doors for us. I did my first internship at Carrefour, where I was able to work completely independently for four months on a project to automate the recognition and counting of products on the shelves from a catalogue of 240,000 items using a computer vision system, which analyses and interprets visual data using AI. I am now moving into the world of start-ups, which I am passionate about.ʼ At École Polytechnique, she is deepening her knowledge of artificial intelligence techniques and applications across various industrial sectors, taking courses on multimodal AI (text, image and sound processing), practising reinforcement learning through group projects, and more. ʽAs a student at Polytechnique, I’m lucky enough to meet brilliant people on campus who share my passion for science. It’s a dynamic environment that encourages intellectual exchange and helps students build relationships.ʼ

X’s Got Talent: coming together through art

This desire to bring students together came to fruition in 2024, when Lauren Ramanantsoa, along with three other students, founded the Masters of Science & Technology art club, MX-Arts, and its flagship event, X’s Got Talent. ʽTogether with Peirong Shi, Sheetal Popat and Hajar El-Kacimi, our aim was to encourage interaction with others. École Polytechnique possesses a wealth of internal diversity: the variety of its students’ backgrounds. The X’s Got Talent arts competition provides an opportunity to bring together students from the engineering programme, bachelor’s and master’s courses for a single event.ʼ It also allows us to see these students in a new light and to appreciate the breadth of their talents. ʽThere were K-pop dancers, a tap-dancing duo, magicians… I was impressed!ʼ Two editions have already taken place in February 2025 and 2026. New members have joined in to help organise this event: Naï-Maria Nam, Gülengül Coşkun, Ana Catarina da Fonseca Gaspar, Laiba Asmathullah and Prakhar Tiwari. Its success is growing, with 22 performances last year featuring 65 artists; and 32 this year, where 115 artists shared their art with an enthralled audience. 

ʽThis event is divided into several highlights: an art exhibition in the school’s main hall featuring paintings, drawings, photographs and even knitted items; workshops; and the Talent Show, featuring dance, singing, stand-up comedy, magic, fashion… During this competition, the talents are judged by the audience and a jury made up of student life staff, such as Jérémy Huet, Deputy Director of Student Life, and Ariane Lherm, who is responsible for welcoming and integrating international Master’s students. The musician, Alp Terliksiz, who won the jury prize in the 2026 edition, performed an extraordinary drum solo to the song “Whiplash” from the film Caravan. He also won unanimous approval from the audience, having received 109 votes out of a total of 200 voters.ʼ

This year, students from all three programmes took part in X’s Got Talent. ʽTogether with the Masters’ Art Club committee, we made a point of providing bilingual communications tailored to everyone, in order to reach all students at École Polytechnique and foster a spirit of friendly competition between the programmes. In addition, dance and music rehearsals were organised to facilitate interaction. This initiative led to the formation of music groups comprising students from different years. For my part, I created two choreographies: one to Meghan Trainor’s song “To the Moon” in 2025*, and another to three songs – “Sunny” by Boney M., “Something Foreign” by SiR and “Começa” by AfroConex – in 2026**. My dance group and I practised once or twice a week for a month before the competition. We won third place in the jury’s prize for the first edition and second place this year.ʼ Choreographer, stylist and mathematician specialising in AI, Lauren Ramanantsoa truly has incredible talents!

* The dance group consisted of Lauren Ramanantsoa, Claire Song, Bérénice Baltzinger, Jing Ru and Elsa Lubek in 2025.
** It consisted of Lauren Ramanantsoa, Harshita Goyal, Xareni Lara Roldán, Sheetal Popat and Lucile Ancenay in 2026.