In the spring of 2018, I was asked by TechChange to put together and teach a brand new course, called Artificial Intelligence for International Development. The course was conducted entirely online, and targeted at mid-career international development professionals (likely without any coding experience) and was intended to provide a solid overview of AI technologies, from how they work to what they can be used for. The goal was to equip students with enough knowledge about AI and related technologies to be able to make smart strategic and managerial decisions for using them in their own work around the world.

Over four weeks, we started with an understanding of what AI is and how it works, including overviews of the fields of machine learning and deep learning. We then progressed to looking at some case studies of how AI is currently being used for international development in this early stage, and also about some of the promises and perils of such technology. Afterwards, we dove into analyses around algorithmic bias and other ethical concerns with AI, such as privacy and security. We then finished the course by looking ahead to the future of AI for international development and what that could look like, along with final projects from the students. Every week, we also hosted multiple guest speakers, who provided some additional depth and real-world examples across a variety of fields, including healthcare, agriculture, labor and jobs, and much more.

I wound up running the course for 3 years, updating its content each year, with a total of around 150 students taking it! The course was one of TechChange’s most popular and received rave reviews.

The course website is available here, and includes an overview of the syllabus.