April 21, 2026 — As students across the Cobb County School District prepare to graduate, one student at Pope High School is also juggling the responsibilities of being a business owner.
Noah Marbach, at just 18 years old, started his own AI company based on his own life experiences.
The Pope senior worked multiple service industry jobs and saw the issues companies had with scheduling employees to work, so he created a solution.
Marbach created XShift AI to transform a stressful, often inaccurate process into one completed in a matter of seconds.
"It was early into senior year when I started getting into AI in about August, but I didn't start working on XShift until late September, and I launched it in about late November, early December," said Marbach.
"It's great to see a student be able to do something with AI in a productive manner that's going to help others. So, congratulations to Noah and all that he's been able to do. I'm glad we've been able to provide a schedule for him with a work-based learning program that enables him the time to put the effort he needs into this business that he's got kicking off," said Pope High School Principal Matthew Bradford.
Marbach's company has already garnered attention from publications across the country, and the Pope senior has been featured in several magazines and websites for his innovation.
He said there have already been talks with state leaders and other companies about ways to integrate his company into day-to-day operations to make it easier for people trying to complete staff schedules.
"I'm obviously very passionate about my school, Pope High School. It's got a great team of teachers, some really good people here, especially in the staff on the faculty side," said Marbach.
During his time at Pope, he gained valuable skills that helped him start his business.
Marbach will attend the University of Mississippi next year and will continue to devote much of his time to XShift AI.
