How I developed my own project using AI, effectively becoming a Tech Entrepreneur
by Anisah (16), UK
Our product, Eleos, won 1st Place at the AI Accelerator 2020, delivered by Teens In AI! All our hard work, dedication and teamwork paid off! I am still in shock and trying to process this.
This Summer, I took part in the #AIAccelerator2020 delivered by Teens In AI where I was tackling some of the problems surrounding COVID-19 & the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals using Artificial Intelligence (AI). I cannot stress to you all enough how amazing this programme is.
Before the Accelerator, I had the opportunity to undertake and complete a Software Engineering Course taught by Alfonso Ferrandez as part of Teens In AI’s Tech Bootcamp. The course was honestly so enjoyable and I am so proud to say that I have been able to develop new awesome skills from programming to working in agile.
During the AI Accelerator, with the support of amazing specialist mentors, for two weeks, I was able to develop my own project using AI to solve global challenges, effectively becoming a Tech Entrepreneur.
I am proud to have managed the project and led an awesome team of dynamic young people! To be able to actually make a product that I applied my own ideas to using technology and AI was definitely an amazing, unique experience that I will treasure forever.
Our hard work, focus and dedication in creating an emotionally supportive platform that helps young people manage their mental health birthed our product, Eleos.
Eleos is an AI-powered assistant that aims to curate and deliver targeted advice and external support resources designed to help young people manage their emotional wellbeing needs.
We achieved this by creating a unique and personalised dashboard that is tailored to the individual user based on the answers that they give to Eleos. This dashboard offers general advice to learn about your health, specific advice based on the key emotional influencers of each user, self care advice based on user interests to provide long-term emotional support and resources for specific life experiences such as bereavement or bullying. View our product prototype here .
Aside from winning, the biggest highlight of the Accelerator was gaining feedback from real young people on our prototype through the NHS Tavistock and Portman Trust and social media. The feedback was so positive with young people talking about how it would improve their experience of accessing support and resources to manage their emotional health and wellbeing, and the constructive criticism we gained helped us to reiterate the project to meet young people’s needs.
This programme has allowed me to develop so many skills from Entrepreneurship, Branding, Marketing and Pitching to Working in Agile i.e. Scrum and Kanban, Programming, Making a Business Canvas and AI Ethics.
In particular, I am grateful to have gained skills in Human-Centred Design Thinking. The time, effort and multitude of tasks that I put into this process made me proud as it allowed me to solve the complex problems surrounding young people’s mental health in a highly user centric way, essentially birthing Eleos! I loved the whole process.
Thank you Elena and Peter for taking me on this amazing programme and a big thank you to all the mentors that supported our project. Their insights helped to scope our project!
I am grateful for what I have learnt and the experience gained, so thank you Teens In AI!
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For more information about the AI Accelerator: https://www.teensinai.com/accelerator/
