The oncoming artificial intelligence revolution promises everything from new medical interventions to self-driving vehicles to virtual companions capable of tackling every daily task from the mundane to the complex. It seems like the sky is the limit with AI, but as with every revolutionary advancement, there is the potential to cause more harm than good. As Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web structure and vocal critic of the current state of the internet, cautions, “We need to make sure that AI benefits all of humanity.”
Benefiting humanity is a guiding principle of Data4Good, an annual competition that encourages up-and-coming graduate and undergraduate students to apply data analysis, AI, and critical thinking in tackling real-world challenges. In February, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School hosted Data4Good for the first time at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. This year’s competition attracted more than 1,100 participants from 105 universities. The attendees were winners and finalists from regional competitions from across the U.S.
“As we continue to witness the transformation enabled by artificial intelligence, it does feel like we are on the precipice of important decisions about how we will put the power of AI to use. Data4Good case competition emphasizes not just the mastery of skills and tools, but also the responsibility to use them for the betterment of society as a whole,” said Carey’s Vice Dean for Faculty and Research Goker Aydin. “This mission is very much in keeping with Carey’s spirit. One of our foundational values at Carey is unwavering humanity, which asks us to commit to business with humanity in mind. We were delighted to host the Data4Good case competition at a time when we are all being asked if we will use the power of analytics not just to do well, but also to do good.”
Data4Good is a collaboration between DataCamp, an education technology company focused on helping organizations fill their data and AI skill gaps, and INFORMS, the leading international association for professionals in AI, operations research, analytics, management science, economics, and other relevant fields.
For the competition, students were challenged to find ways to improve the factual accuracy and reliability of AI-generated educational content, and more specifically, develop analytical tools for detecting and classifying misinformation or hallucinations coming from large language models. Reducing the rate of errors and hallucinations is critical to the success of AI tools and varies widely across applications and industries.
Carey Business School Associate Professors of Practice Nazli Turken and Mohammad Ali Alamdar Yazdi served as judges along with technical advisors and executives from AWS Global, Microsoft, Nursa, SAS, Walmart, and ZETEC.
