Meet 18-Year-Old Abia Student Who Built an AI App That Lets ChatGPT Book Flights
18-year-old Abia-born UNIPORT student, Obinna Chimdi, has built ChatATP, an AI platform that lets ChatGPT and similar models book flights and perform online tasks. His innovation could reshape how AI connects with real-world systems in Africa.
An 18-year-old student from Abia State, Obinna Chimdi, has developed a groundbreaking artificial intelligence platform named ChatATP, designed to allow ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) to not just converse but perform real-world tasks such as booking flights.
Chimdi, who studies Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), said the project was born out of his frustration with the current limits of AI chatbots, which are capable of generating answers but unable to take direct action.
“Tools like ChatGPT are powerful, but they’re not built to solve problems end-to-end,” he explained. “If you ask them to send an email or book a flight, they can’t complete the process. ChatATP fixes that gap.”
ChatATP serves as a connector between AI models and online systems. Through the app, users can type a simple command like “Book me a flight from Lagos to Abuja,” and the AI completes the action directly on real websites.
Chimdi describes his creation as giving ChatGPT “arms and legs” to interact with the internet.
The system runs on a framework he calls Agents2, which he defines as “HTTP for AI agents.” Just as HTTP allows browsers to communicate with websites, Agents2 provides a standardized way for AI models to interact with online platforms.
This innovation allows multiple AI systems — such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others — to connect with real-world services through “toolkits.” These toolkits define what each action requires, what it returns, and ensure safe interactions between users and websites.
“Agents2 makes AI collaboration easier,” Chimdi said. “It means ChatGPT and other AIs can finally do things, not just talk about them.”
Chimdi’s journey into technology started at 16 when he began coding on his father’s mobile phone. Within three months, he built his first mini project, inspired by tech icons like Mark Zuckerberg.
His first major project was Wall Street, a business networking platform for professionals. But his most ambitious and technically demanding creation is ChatATP, which took him six months to build almost entirely on his own.
“I couldn’t find collaborators,” he recalled. “Everyone I reached out to was busy, so I had to learn frontend design, UX, and system architecture myself.”
Currently, only three people — his neighbor and two classmates — use ChatATP regularly. Despite the small user base, Chimdi remains confident about the future. His next goal is to attract more developers, secure investment, and scale the system to handle more users.
He admits that funding and computing costs are his biggest hurdles. Competing AI automation platforms like AutoGPT, LangGraph, and Lumio AI already enjoy major backing and large developer communities. Still, Chimdi believes ChatATP’s Agents2 protocol gives it a unique advantage in AI interoperability.
If expanded successfully, ChatATP could become one of Africa’s most significant AI contributions, allowing multiple intelligent systems to work together in one functional ecosystem.
Chimdi’s story underscores the growing wave of young African innovators shaping the continent’s digital future — proving that transformative technology can emerge from anywhere, even from an 18-year-old student with a borrowed phone and a relentless drive to create.
