A group of young Black men and boys last week showcased AI-powered apps they created over the summer at the Kapor Center in Oakland.
The apps address common community issues in Oakland, including substance abuse, fear of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and lack of employment opportunities. The inaugural event held Friday aims to inspire the next generation of tech wizards and bring more Black people into the world of tech and AI development.
The six-week summer program was spearheaded by Kingmakers of Oakland, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the educational and life outcomes of Black boys and men, from Pre-K to Ph.D. The young men who participated on Friday ranged from age 11 to 23 and were either in middle school, high school or college.
Community members who gathered at the center on Broadway were introduced to practical apps and websites that tackle issues like substance abuse, dealing with ICE agents, applying for jobs and giving guidance to youth in the foster care system.
Each of the applications included some form of AI software programming. For the website about ICE, there is a built-in AI translation device for dealing with ICE confrontations.
‘For the betterment’ of communities
One team created an app that helps youth who are aging out of the foster care system connect with a potential guardian.
“So usually kings or young people are mostly consumers of AI, but we thought since young people are consuming AI so much, how can we make it so they are the architects and creators of their own projects and they know how to use AI for good and for the betterment of their communities,” said Leah Dobson, marketing and communications specialist of Kingmakers of Oakland.
Another team of young men created an app called Substop that tracks and maps smoke shops in neighborhoods across the city so those dealing with substance abuse can avoid certain areas.
Jarrod Hofstetter is an Oakland High School student, and his team created Substop.
“It was fun, we got to collaborate with new people and make new connections,” he said. “Growing up in East Oakland there’s a lot of people addicted to drugs, alcohol, weed. They have a lot of potential in life so we try get rid of all that negative substance. So that’s where it really stems from.”
For all the products, the teams conducted interviews with community members and used surveys to guide their research and project development.
The different teams of students presented their apps and websites to a panel that asked them questions about how their apps work and how they can be improved.
Jonathan Robinson served as a panelist and provided some of this constructive feedback. Robinson has previously worked for Twitter and Apple. For him, Friday’s event highlighted the importance of diversification within the tech world.
“We have to acknowledge that the advancement of these kinds of technologies, particularly at the rate that they’re being rolled out, often end up hiding a lot of the systemic inequalities that exist in current day infrastructure,” he said. “We already know that it’s been a challenge for the Black community to push back on that systemic oppression, it’ll only get that much more difficult as those systems of oppression are whitewashed in code and data.”
