The WCIT AI/ML Learning Exchange
What is AI4C
The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT) has set up a Learning Exchange for charities who are engaged with, or planning to use, Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning – AI4C.
AI4C emerged following WCIT’s successful first ever Charity IT Award in 2018, which looked to support the innovative use of technology in the charity sector. The award was jointly won by two charities developing ambitious AI and ML projects, CALM and Missing People.
This prompted WCIT to explore how it could best support the award winners, bring additional industry expertise to charities working in this space and ensure that lessons learned will be shared with the sector as a whole: AI4C was born.
What we do
AI4C aims to help charities maximise the benefits of these new technologies, while also sharing lessons, stimulating debate, holding events and making connections to industry experts. It is open (free of charge) to charities working on AI/ML projects to join, learn and share. All AI4C members share the belief that AI is a hugely promising and potentially disruptive technology for the charity sector.
The purpose of AI4C is to call upon internal WCIT and external experts to provide practical advice and thought leadership to support charities. Furthermore, to harness the experience and lessons learnt by these projects, and the projects of any other charities who join, for a wider benefit. With time AI4C also hopes to play a thought leadership role to stimulate debate and learning in the wider charity sector.
Our Aims
In 2018 we established a competition for the WCIT Charity IT Award. Of the four finalists, drawn from 76 entries, it was impossible to separate two - CALM (Campaign against Living Miserably) and Missing People and each has received a grant of £300,000. Both winning charities face the problem of rising call and online chat volumes with insufficient human resources to service all the contacts they receive. They are therefore both seeking to make innovative use of chatbots supported by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to prioritise the calls and increase the number of enquiries successfully handled.
The AI/ML Learning Exchange was created by WCIT, initially based around the above two AI/ML charity projects funded by the Award to. Through collaboration our mission is:
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to assemble and disseminate best practice in this technology area for the benefit of the Charity Sector,
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to ensure lessons from the winning projects, and later from others, are distilled and shared for the benefit of CALM and MISSING PEOPLE and the wider charity sector, to utilise the experience and contacts of WCIT members in this endeavour,
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to attract other interested parties to participate, contribute and consume the resulting technology and experience.
