COOLTalk : AI for Good

On 31 May 2024, MasterPeace conducted its COOLTalk series with an engaging session titled "AI for Good: Challenges and Opportunities for AI in the Social Realm." This session featured two distinguished speakers: Lewis Janssen, founder of GAIDE and expert in transforming organizations with AI, and Akash Raj, co-founder of Whispp and expert in strategic uses of AI.

Raghda El Halawany, co-leader of MasterPeace and an expert in inclusive AI and innovation, moderated the session. Around 25 individuals from various countries and backgrounds participated, creating a diverse audience.

Lewis Janssen opened the session by discussing AI's positive and negative aspects. He highlighted AI's potential to improve social goods and services such as healthcare, transportation, food supply, and education. Lewis emphasized that AI could make education more accessible worldwide, revolutionizing learning opportunities for all.

Akash Raj shared inspiring insights from his work at Whispp, focusing on using AI to assist people who cannot speak to communicate in their daily lives. He shared a great example of AI being used to recreate voices for individuals who lost their ability to speak due to throat cancer,  laryngectomy, and other diseases. Akash’s visit to a stutter café in the Netherlands, where people who tend to stutter when they speak come together to support each other, showed him the profound importance of speech and communication in a person’s life. This visit to the café motivated Akash’s dedication to working for social good through AI.

Moderator Raghda steered the discussion with questions, starting with why the speakers chose to work on AI for social causes and healthcare, among others. Lewis spoke about his AI initiatives in ophthalmology, where AI reduced the time for eye examinations from 15 minutes to just 2-3 minutes. This can be considered a revolution in the field of healthcare. Similarly, Akash shared stories from his experiences, emphasizing the transformative power of AI in improving inclusivity and accessibility and how it can actually be used to make every other tool more inclusive. However, these technologies are available only in first-world countries, while the Global South still lacks access to them.

Raghda also shared a case study from UNPOL, showing how AI analysis of satellite imagery and data helped reduce harassment and rape cases in Indonesia by 80% through the installation of light bulbs in dark areas. This is a great example of the usage of AI for social good. Similarly, Lewis emphasized the importance of AI in meeting basic necessities in third-world countries, predicting significant strides in education and healthcare.

Participants raised important concerns about the ethical use of AI, legal complexities, and the concentration of AI power in the hands of a few organizations. Lewis and Akash addressed these issues, acknowledging the need for awareness, education, and potential regulation. Lewis referred to the European AI Act and the potential of blockchain technology to address deepfake issues in the future. Both speakers believed that innovations should be regulated strongly.

Lastly, one of the participants asked a question about how AI can combat climate change in regions like Africa and how we can leverage this technology to improve food security. Akash answered by mentioning that there are many technological advancements. Many companies are developing better wind farms and working on carbon capture. Big companies are also using AI to develop tools to predict weather more accurately, which can help us combat climate change. An NGO in the Netherlands called Space for Good is using satellite data to predict which areas are suitable for afforestation. Lewis added that bringing these technologies to other parts of the world is important. Technology can be used for market assessment and determining crop prices. There are developed technologies that can help. It is important to improve accessibility and then let technologies such as AI assist them.

The session concluded with a few Q&As, leaving participants inspired and more informed about AI's transformative potential and challenges in the social realm.

GIRLS SELF ESTEAM

GIRLS SELF ESTEAM project aims to empower girls and teachers in ESTEAM by boosting skills, confidence, and motivation.
Fosters a diverse workforce. Reduces the gender gap and fuels innovation and economic growth.

OUTPUT

The project develops and disseminates educational materials, a virtual museum of successful women in STEM, and organizes camps and festivals, and hands-on activities.

• 2 Transnational Project Meetings
• 1 Gilrs Self – ESTEAM Female Role Model Interactive Museum
• Selection of 70 Successful Woman Role Models in ESTEAM through an open call
• Girls ESTEAM Curriculum and Training Modules Development in 4 Languages
• 1 Teachers’ Training Event (6 teachers per partner)
• 1 Girl Self-ESTEAM Capacity Building Camp in the Netherlands
• Final Self-ESTEAM festival

Girls Self-ESTEAM targets several groups:

1) Young girls 13-17 years old will benefit in several ways:
a) explore their interests and build their confidence to pursue careers in ESTEAM fields;
b) enhance skills such as problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking, innovation, developing a strong foundation for their future career;
c) explore career options in ESTEAM as through the Self-ESTEAM Female Role Model Interactive e-Museum, the Capacity Building Camps and Festival they will be exposed to a variety of career options and will be inspired by professionals in the field to make informed decisions about their future career paths.

2) Secondary education teachers, with special focus on women teachers will benefit in several ways:
a) develop new teaching strategies as the project promotes hands-on approaches that are different from traditional classroom teaching;
b) enhance their skills in ESTEAM which they can pass to their students;
c) encourage students’ interest in these fields and create a culture of innovation and creativity in the classroom;
d) foster collaboration among teachers from different fields of education

3) Successful women professionals in ESTEAM sectors will benefit in several ways:
a) network and collaborate with other professionals;
b) act as mentors;
c) personal growth and professional development.
Additionally, women professionals on ESTEAM can act as female role models and ambassadors to promote ESTEAM principles and opportunities to the next generation of women in these fields.

PARTNERS

Ontdek de nieuwe film:
"Geen Vrede Geen Rust"

Als onderdeel van ons programma "Preventie met Gezag" heeft MasterPeace zich ingezet voor de preventie en ontwikkeling van jongeren bij Jeugdhonk "Ons Pandje". Shilaf Badia Sliman, projectleider bij MasterPeace als regisseur van de film, heeft samen met Dorothee Meijer, Ayoub Aydin van MasterPeace, en in samenwerking met Jamila Choukoud, Omar Tahiri en Mirhan Sacruka van Stichting MEION, de jongeren ondersteund bij het maken van deze krachtige film.

"Geen Vrede Geen Rust" biedt een unieke inkijk in het leven in Zuidwest, waarbij op fenomenologische wijze de rauwe ervaringen van jongeren worden belicht. Na een succesvolle première in Theater en Filmhuis Dakota, heeft de film programmamakers en beleidsmakers de mogelijkheid geboden om inzichten op te doen die normaal gesproken niet beschikbaar zijn.

We zijn trots op het resultaat van dit samenwerkingsproject, dat niet alleen het straatleven van Zuidwest op een authentieke en meeslepende manier heeft vastgelegd, maar ook heeft laten zien hoeveel potentieel er schuilt in samenwerking en gemeenschapszin. Bij MasterPeace kijken we met enthousiasme uit naar wat de toekomst brengt, en blijven we vastbesloten om jongeren te ondersteunen en platformen te creëren waar hun stem gehoord kan worden.

Dank aan alle betrokkenen voor hun inzet, toewijding en creativiteit. Samen hebben we een verschil gemaakt en blijven we streven naar positieve verandering.

Dit project is mede mogelijk gemaakt door: 

*Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie. De hier geuite opvattingen en meningen komen echter uitsluitend voor rekening van de auteur(s) en geven niet noodzakelijkerwijs die van de Europese Unie of het Nationaal Agentschap weer. Noch de Europese Unie, noch het Nationaal Agentschap kan ervoor aansprakelijk worden gesteld.