When artificial intelligence is created by a group that reflects the world we live in, we believe AI solutions will be more innovative, ethical, and will solve new problems. Looking to the future, we believe that everyone will be an AI consumer, so everyone deserves to have an understanding of how these technologies may be impacting their lives. Even more crucially, AI has the potential to amplify the biases of its creators. When a diversity of people is not involved in creating, guiding, regulating, and implementing AI, the risks for algorithmic bias and other unintended consequences are heightened. Finally, AI is poised to make a massive global economic impact which may negatively impact large segments of the population due to lack of access to AI education and other barriers. Even if the field continues on the current path, we’ll still face a shortage of adequately trained AI workers in the future.

We focus on AI because 2 of our 3 founders are leading AI researchers and saw the need to bridge the gap between existing computer science education and AI careers. Plus, the field of AI is significantly less diverse than the broader field of CS overall. For example, under 14% of AI researchers globally are women, whereas 26% of all people in the computing workforce are women.

AI4ALL’s programs are deeply rooted in research and continually tested and refined. Our curriculum is developed in-house by content experts and educators, reviewed by leading AI researchers and industry experts, and tested at top AI institutions around the world. You can learn more about our team here.

Concrete actions you can take to address bias and other risks include: 

• Continually test, audit, and monitor AI for bias and its impact
• Create standards around ethics and fairness (or leverage existing ones that interdisciplinary groups and AI leaders have already developed) 
• Prioritize transparency in algorithms so people can understand how these systems arrive at predictions
• Prioritize diversity and inclusion from the start. Though diversifying your technical team is not sufficient to ensuring ethical products, it is a crucial starting point.

We are not able to offer regular volunteer opportunities at AI4ALL, though volunteer opportunities may occasionally arise. In order to stay up to date with volunteer opportunities, you may want to sign up for our newsletter.

At this time, we don’t offer programs for high schoolers. You can read more about our difficult decision to put our high school programming on hiatus here. You may be interested in checking out our free curriculum for high school classrooms here.

College Pathways comprises two parts: Discover AI and Apply AI.

Discover AI – An intensive workshop for college students not already on an AI academic path to introduce them to the field, get them excited about AI, and encourage them to take the next step in their academic path in AI. Discover AI is meant to spark interest in AI among students who have limited or no exposure to computer science (CS) coursework or who are taking a CS course but are not CS majors. The curriculum is interdisciplinary and exposes students to many applications of AI across a variety of fields. No prior coding experience is needed to complete the program. 

Apply AI – A group that gives students who are on an AI academic path an opportunity to build community, as well as a forum to engage with more challenging AI projects, and to develop tangible products to add to their portfolio for internship/job applications. As students develop their skills, coding may be required to complete projects and build portfolios. 

For universities: Thank you for your interest in AI4ALL College Pathways! We are currently piloting programs with select university partners around the US. AI4ALL College Pathways is meant to complement AI academic courses available on university campuses while focusing on the social impacts and interdisciplinary potential of AI. We are thus interested in partnering with computer science majors and engineering departments, as well as programs outside the scope of engineering, like the social sciences. Please complete this form if you’d like us to consider your university as we expand our partnerships. 

For undergraduate students: If you are a college student interested in participating in Discover AI or Campus Chapters, please join our email list to stay updated on new campus partnerships and initiatives. Applications to participate in Discover AI will be offered through universities once new partnerships are launched.

Due to challenges presented by Covid-19, currently scheduled College Pathways programs will be held online. As universities reopen, programs will be offered in person when it is safe to do so. The health and safety of our community is our priority and we are working closely with our university partners to develop plans that reflect their needs. We understand the concerns surrounding Covid-19 and are committed to being responsive as this situation evolves.

AI4ALL Open Learning is for high-school teachers ready to bring AI to students who have been historically excluded from tech fields. We welcome educators of all disciplines who are interested in expanding access to AI education in community with other educators.