Teens Unite to Make Sense of Brexit using AI

by Startacus Admin

The Teens In AI initiative, launched by the award-winning social impact enterprise Acorn Aspirations, in partnership with IPsoft, the global leader in Enterprise AI, ran the Gen Z Hackathon for teenagers at the Leadenhall Building in London over the weekend of 26th - 27th January 2019. Teams of over 50 teenagers came together to explore the meaning of Brexit and the impact it will have on the nation and their lives.

With the help of the judging panel including; Tanya Ahmed – Head of User Experience at QuantumBlack, Danny Bluestone – Founder and CEO of Cyber Duck, Corinne Fitzgerald – Head of Insurance Risk at SwissRe, Sabine Azancot – Lead Partner Digital Strategy at IBM, Alexandra Frean – Head of Corporate Affairs at Starling Bank, the hackathon was able to award each participant with prizes, ranging from a team mentoring sessions with IPsoft, to the top prize of technology workshops with QuantumBlack.

Gerard Crech, CEO of Tech Nation, who opened the event said:

“Teens in AI is doing great work and being vital service to young people who will power our future economy. The skills in artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning are crucial for UK to retain its place as AI powerhouse”

The aim of #GenZHack was to tackle socio-economic challenges and unlock new opportunities for people, places and sectors impacted by Brexit. The teams were tasked with identifying problems and creating a "minimum viable product" to address those challenges using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The teams and their projects were:

• Hoodat – An app which reports unknown telephone numbers that send you suspicious messages via WhatsApp

• FalseFinder – A chrome extension which uses machine learning to detect fake news

• BrexitBot – A web-based chatbot, that aids young people to understand Brexit 

• UVO – An app that allows young people to vote on, and develop, a further understanding of current political topics

• IDEAL – An app designed to reduce stress levels of students through improved organisation

• HabitAI – An interactive application using AI to help enforce healthy habits

• DRai – AI system which helps doctors make sense of data

• webDETECT – A browser extension that analyses the topic of an article to see if it holds any bias

• GlassBox – Designed to improve transparency of the supply chain to support ethical purchasing

The winner of the #GenZHack, was UVO, an app that encourages teens to not only become more informed about politics but also help to increase young people’s turn out rate in future elections. 

Elena Sinel, Founder and CEO of Acorn Aspirations & Teens in AI, said:

“Teens In AI is a movement committed to empowering young people to solve real-world problems through AI and machine learning. Recent political events have created uncertainties across many sectors and are bound to leave a significant impact on the future of the UK. It is more important than ever to involve the younger generation to express their voices, concerns, and opinions on how the future can be shaped through technology. This hackathon is the first event organised entirely by teens for teens, which shows their engagement and passion for technology and its ability to solve problems and change the world for the better.”

Teens In AI is an Acorn Aspirations initiative that exists to increase diversity and inclusion in artificial intelligence. It aims to democratise AI and create opportunities for underrepresented talent through a combination of expert mentoring, talks, workshops, hackathons, bootcamps and accelerators, company tours and networking opportunities that give young people aged 12-18 early exposure to AI for social good. 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #ai
• #brexit
• #teens in ai
• #acorn aspirations
• #diversity
• #inclusion
• #artificial intelligence
• #hackathon

Published on: 30th January 2019