Humanitarian AI Today Humanitarian AI Today

Stefaan Verhulst and Andrew Schroeder speak with Brent Phillips, Humanitarian AI Today podcast producer, about Meta’s Lama Impact Grants program supporting applications of artificial intelligence for social good and a recent workshop that Meta organized for their 2024 Lama Impact Grant finalists. Stefaan, Andrew and Brent also discuss collective intelligence, large language models, data accessibility and making data AI ready, data collection and standardization initiatives geared for humanitarian actors, the impact of AI on humanitarian operations, localization, and how humanitarian actors can collaborate around advancing humanitarian AI.

Dr. Stefaan G. Verhulst is an expert in using data and technology for social impact. He is the Co-Founder of several research organizations including the Governance Laboratory (GovLab) at New York University and The DataTank base in Brussels. He focuses on using advances in science and technology, including data and artificial intelligence,  to improve decision-making and problem-solving. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the open-access journal Data & Policy and has served as a member of several expert groups on data and technology, including the High-Level Expert Group to the European Commission on Business-to-Government Data Sharing and the Expert Group to Eurostat on using Private Sector data for Official Statistics. Dr. Verhulst has been recognized as one of the 10 Most Influential Academics in Digital Government globally. He has published extensively on these topics, including several books, and has been invited to speak at international conferences, including TED and the UN World Data Forum. He is asked regularly to provide counsel on data stewardship to a variety of public and private organizations.

Dr. Andrew Schroeder is the Vice President of Research and Analysis for Direct Relief. He leads Direct Relief’s work in data science, GIS, and humanitarian innovation. He has worked in a consulting and advisory capacity for the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and World Food Programme (WFP), as well as being a member of the health data experts committee for Meta (formerly Facebook). Dr. Schroeder is the co-founder, along with colleagues at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, of CrisisReady, a research and response platform for translating private data into public good for disasters and health emergencies. He is also the co-founder and former Board President of the global nonprofit WeRobotics.org, which builds local capacity in robotics applications for humanitarian aid, development, and global health in nearly 40 countries around the world. Andrew earned his Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Analysis from New York University and his Masters of Public Policy (MPP) and certification in Science, Technology and Public Policy (STPP) from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Lindsey Moore, CEO and Founder of DevelopMetrics, speaks with Brent Phillips, Humanitarian AI Today podcast Producer, about DevelopMetrics’ work helping humanitarian organizations experiment with large language models. Lindsey and Brent discuss humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence, domain specificity, large language models, model training, testing and fine tuning, data structuring, data privacy and security, sandboxing, goal and objective setting, applicational development and deployment and other subjects relevant to humanitarian organizations interested in experimenting with generative AI.

Roberto Vila-Sexto, Country Director for Ukraine with the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaks with Jakob Harbo, Country Manager for Ukraine with the Danish Red Cross. Joined by Brent Phillips, Roberto and Jakob discuss their work and roles, the scale and severity of conditions in Ukraine this Winter, humanitarian needs and operations, risks and complications humanitarian actors face in Ukraine, attacks on humanitarian facilities and their views on humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence, including their views on real-world wartime humanitarian applications of AI and concerns. Closing the interview, Roberto and Jakob offer their thoughts on futuristic AI applications they would like to see developed.

Shadrock Roberts, Director of Global Data Protection, Privacy, and Ethical AI at Mercy Corps, speaks with Humanitarian AI Today guest host, Nasim Motalebi, an Information Scientist, Researcher and co-author of a Digital Humanitarian Network / UN OCHA supported paper on “Generative AI for Humanitarians”, about data protection and privacy in the AI age and about how humanitarian organizations are experimenting with generative AI and addressing AI from legal, regulatory, ethical and responsible AI vantage points. Nasim and Shadrock also discuss developmental testing, synthetic data, data interpretation and analysis, risk reduction, chatbots and prompting. Nasim closes the interview with input on data sharing frameworks like IATI, HDX and ReliefWeb, data tagging and work ahead of humanitarian organizations in 2024 needed to advance humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence.

André Heller Pérache, Director of the International Rescue Committee’s Signpost project speaks with Isabella Loaiza, a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT Sloan School Of Management and former Research Assistant at MIT Media Lab. Isabella and André discuss Signpost’s work responding to the informational needs of people facing crises, the program’s growth plans and how Signpost is approaching experimenting with generative AI. Isabella and André speak in detail about the importance of deploying large language models correctly and in ways that are safe and useful for vulnerable populations and broach Isabella’s research around the future of work and other topics.

Suzy Madigan, founder of ‘The Machine Race’ blog series and senior humanitarian advisor at CARE international speaks with Shivaang Sharma, PhD researcher on Humanitarian AI systems at University College London (UCL). Ahead of the UK Government’s AI Safety Summit, Suzy and Shivaang discuss some of the human rights and safety implications of AI for society globally, particularly for communities in the global south experiencing humanitarian crises, conflicts, poverty or marginalization and look at how to ensure that the design, deployment and governance of AI is inclusive and equitable, to make sure everybody can share in its potential benefits and be protected from potential harms. The discussion will help humanitarian actors understand why traditional humanitarian NGOs need to think through the implications of AI both for the societal changes it brings, and the considerations for using AI within humanitarian operations.