1. General

Category

Category

Education

2. Project Details

Company or Institution

1M1B Foundation

Project

Creators not consumers

General description of the AI solution

Creators not consumers, a 1M1B youth skills program empowers youth to solve real world challenges and address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals using Responsible AI. The program mobilise youth to solve large-scale problems through ‘Responsible AI’. Over the last 3 years the program has trained over 15,000 youth, 10,000 teachers from over 300 schools across India. The vision of the program is to activate and train over 1 million youth to develop AI solutions to impact 1 billion people. The program develops ethical Gen Z workforce that prioritizes human values and people over business and profits. 40% participation are from girls and going forward 30% participation will be from rural schools adjoining 1,000 villages of India. Top students are given workplace experiences opportunities in IBM and other organization. Top solutions are showcased at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, SCET at the 1M1B Responsible AI summit.

Website

https://activate1m1b.org/

Organisation

1M1B Foundation

3. Aspects

Excellence and Scientific Quality: Please detail the improvements made by the nominee or the nominees’ team or yourself if your applying for the award, and why they have been a success.

Creators not consumers, has been delivered to over 15,000 youth, age 13-18 years, in over 300 schools in India to move beyond simply knowing how to use AI as a technical competency. The focus is on making them creators, not consumers, of AI. They are taught in the following ways to imagine new and creative ways through which to infuse the power of AI to solve larger, structural problems that plague society:

1.Unbox AI – Introducing AI to students in a fun and ‘cool’ manner using references to popular representations of AI from movies and pop culture, real world examples of AI & easy to understand modules on key AI concepts like ML, NLP, Deep Learning, Chatbots, Ethics in AI, games & activities, to make leaning AI exciting and interesting for youth.
2. AI Youth Labs for SDGs- Providing tools & resources to understand how AI can accelerate the SDGs, learn AI in a hands-on manner, so that they learn by doing & creating and imagine AI powered solutions for a better world. Nurturing youth to use AI and big data to solve problems & address the SDGs using AI for Good thus becoming problem solvers using AI responsibly.
3. Capstone Projects – IBM experts as mentors and coaches to guide the students as they ideate, prototype, build and implement sustainable solutions using AI
4. Careers in AI – Exciting young people especially girls on careers in AI.

Focus of the program in developing problem-solvers who could use AI rather than producing students technically proficient in it has contributed towards its success. The program goes beyond the simple idea of treating AI as a “computer science” module.

Scaling of impact to SDGs: Please detail how many citizens/communities and/or researchers/businesses this has had or can have a positive impact on, including particular groups where applicable and to what extent.

Creators not consumers, is focussed on creating AI solutions to advance the SDGs leveraging project-based learning and case studies. The power of AI lies in the fact that it is a technology that can cut across all fields and bring about large collaboration. With a principle of AI for All, we are ensuring participation of students across diverse fields like biology, psychology, humanities and even arts, thus facilitating an open exchange between students to think of creative ways to use AI. We are making AI a language — one that is spoken by all students and not just the tech enthusiasts. We are creating responsible AI youth leaders at the hyper-local level and not simple-minded consumers or back-office techies.

1M1B has trained over 15,000 school youth on AI and through 750+ AI for SDGs projects young boys and girls are addressing major problems faced by communities in India. The feedback from the 15,000+ students who come from diverse backgrounds has been very positive. Students who were not aware of AI earlier have developed a keen interest in AI and would like to pursue a career in AI in future.
The program can be scaled globally and across UNESCO member states to develop an AI for SDGs ecosystem and drive youth AI action towards the SDGs. 1M1B Foundation ( 1 Million for 1 Billion) being a UN accredited non-profit organisation with special consultative status with the ECOSOC is planning a global AI for SDGs program to activate 1 million youth across the world to accelerate the SDGs using AI. 1M1B has a partnership with IBM and UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering, SCET and plans to convene an annual showcase on Responsible AI at the UC Berkeley campus in December 2021.

Scaling of AI solution: Please detail what proof of concept or implementations can you show now in terms of its efficacy and how the solution can be scaled to provide a global impact ad how realistic that scaling is.

Creators not consumers, can prove to be a great program for mobilising youth AI talent towards the SDGs. We need the creativity and zeal of the youth to make the goal of achieving the SDGs by 2030 a reality. Considering the large global youth population, if the program can be implemented in countries across the globe the impact can be massive. Imagine 1 million youth globally addressing the challenges in their communities using AI powered solutions thus localising SDGs and addressing age old challenges with new age tools. The impact can be biggest mover of the SDGs.

Some AI innovations developed and implemented by students’ part of the program include:
• AI based telemedicine for improving healthcare in rural regions.
• AI powered women’s safety device.
• Provision of clean water services enabled by AI.
• AI powered climate action kits.

There are over 750 such projects that students have developed. The successful solutions created by the students can be supported by large corporations to develop further and implement on a global scale. We have shown positive impact through our program in the last 2 years and a further 200,000 students will be AI ready this year. To scale this program globally we will require support from large companies. If organisations, universities and researchers in the AI space can make their tools, resources and expertise available to youth, it can lead to the emergence of a vibrant AI for SDGs ecosystem across the globe, encouraging exchanges between various stakeholders.

Ethical aspect: Please detail the way the solution addresses any of the main ethical aspects, including trustworthiness, bias, gender issues, etc.

Interdisciplinary approach in schools and participation of more girls to avoid biases

The AI wave has to be unlike previous technological turns that were pushed into school curriculum — Python, for example, was simply taught to students interested in Computer Science and lent itself simply to the creation of a Python-ready workforce. The most important thing to ensure is the participation of students, especially girls across fields like Biology, Psychology and even arts. What this influx from diverse fields can facilitate is an open exchange between students to think of creative ways to use AI ethically and without biases
AI cannot become yet another specialised field for “computer nerds”. It must become a language — one that is spoken by all students. What we need are leaders of AI, not simple-minded consumers or back-office techies. We want a generation of leaders who can use AI to create solutions to solve the biggest problems plaguing our country and define its future growth. While starting early in school is one way of doing it, it will also happen only if we simultaneously focus on creating responsible AI leaders at the hyper-local level, even in villages and equip them with mentors and coaches who can help lead the way. 1M1B plans to offer Creators not consumers to 1 million young boys and girls (30% participation from the villages of India, with over 40% participation from girls overall)

Video of pilot started with IBM and CBSE here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKl5pghClFY