In this interview, 18‑year‑old Zach Yadegari, founder and CEO of Cal AI, explains how his AI‑driven calorie‑tracking app works, its claimed 90% accuracy, and its rapid adoption (over 5 million downloads and a million‑dollar valuation). Zach recounts his early coding start at age seven, originally motivated by video‑game creation, and how personal struggles with weight led him to develop a more user‑friendly solution to calorie tracking. He describes the integration of recent AI image‑recognition technologies that allow users to simply photograph a meal to receive a detailed nutritional breakdown. Zach also shares his upcoming plans: enrolling at the University of Miami while continuing to grow Cal AI and expand the team. The conversation highlights the intersection of teenage entrepreneurship, AI innovation, and the fitness industry.
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An 18-year-old from Long Island, New York is ringing in the future of fitness. Whiz kid Zach Yadegari is the founder and CEO of an artificial intelligence-based calorie tracking app. It's called Cal AI. I'm sure you've seen it all over social media. Simply take a picture of your meal and Cal AI counts your calories, even generating a nutritional breakdown of your food with about 90% accuracy. Accuracy. Now, with over 5 million downloads, thousands of rave reviews, this million-dollar app is changing how some people approach their fitness. And their food. And Zach Yadegari is right here in our studio. Good to see you, man. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, absolutely. So, so how does this thing work? Because I've seen people on social media taking pictures of their food with it. How is it that it's, first of all, even accurate? And how did you come up with it?
That's a great question. So first of all, CaliEye is an app that makes calorie tracking super simple and easy. You can just take a picture of your food and it will tell you the calories. We have integrated so many of these new AI technologies that have been being developed for the last 2 years, and now we have accomplished an amazing 90% accuracy on average. I bet it's getting better and better as people use it, right? Yes.
That's— it's so cool. You started coding very, very young. You were just 7 years old. Did you always see yourself as going into the fitness industry of this?
Actually, no. I initially started coding because I was obsessed with video games and wanted to make my own. But then as I got older, my interest changed and I wanted to start doing things to actually help the world and also solve my own problems. See, this was something that I actually wanted for myself. I was a very skinny kid growing up and I started going to the gym, started eating more and tracking my calories to make sure I'm putting on weight. And I learned very quickly that the existing apps to track calories were super tedious. You have to manually type in—
That's the thing. You have to manually go in there and do the thing. This is literally just a picture and it somehow knows exactly what's on your plate. Exactly. That's amazing. Okay, so what's next for you? Because clearly you have such a bright future.
Well, in the fall I'm starting college at U Miami and I'm gonna keep working on Cal AI, keep growing the team.
I mean, it's, I love how you're already so successful and yet you're saying, no, no, I still need to get my education. As well, and you're going to do it anyway.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a very good experience.
All right, and Miami, it's a good place, my hometown. Thank you so much. You're going to love it.
