Students from St Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham have come up with practical applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help with an issue close to their hearts, winning a top AI competition for schools.
The gentrification of areas in Britain, which means local people are often priced out of their homes, was the inspiration for an AI programme devised by students at St Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham.
Students Jandry Rodriguez, Jesse Ikuesan, and Jason Boakye came up with a solution to help local governments predict and mitigate the effects of wealthier people moving into an area, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, often displacing current inhabitants in the process.
The proposal came first in a competition run by AI in Business in collaboration with organisers of Digital Transformation Expo (DTX), part of a co-created Leaders Of Tomorrow AI Schools Programme.
The 4 week programme – now in its second year – aims to train, support and showcase young tech talent at secondary schools and, via the competition, educate young people about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of work and society.
The winners received their prizes at the latest Digital Transformation Expo, held at the London ExCeL, where organisers, judges and the students gathered to acknowledge the project and listened to entries from two finalist teams.
Other entries addressed topics including traffic optimisation, inventory management, cybersecurity, the identification of new species, and accessibility for the visually impaired.
The competition entries were judged by CEO of AI in Business, Katie King, Health Tech Specialist, Randeep Sidhu, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, Lord Tim Clement-Jones, and lastly Mike Leverington, who is Director of Data Experimentation at ITV.
Notably, the winners will get the opportunity to spend time with the judges to develop their idea.
One of the winning students, Jason Boakye, said: “The whole experience was really interesting, allowing us to branch into an area of work we had believed to be unrepresented. Being introduced to entrepreneurs and successful figures involved in AI was very inspiring and enabled us to create an idea that was relevant to society and would impact people’s lives.”
Speaking about the success of the second cohort through the programme, Katie King said: “This group of students really impressed us with their eagerness to learn and their creativity. I look forward to bringing the programme to more schools here in the UK and to expand internationally one day.”
Dominie Roberts, Content Development Director at Digital Transformation Expo said the focus on inspiring tech talent of the future was an important aspect of the show. “Working with the AI in Business team gives us the chance to showcase ideas coming from young people on how to use tech positively to tackle real life issues. It brings them into contact with leaders in the field and provides a road map for a future career in tech – where there is a huge talent gap. It’s a win-win for everyone.”