Exchange.Design Engages in AI & Data Policy Discussion at Technology Salon
This week, Exchange.Design participated in a Technology Salon event, hosted by Forum One, centered on Generative AI, data governance, and international development. The discussions explored the evolution of artificial intelligence technologies and their potential to tackle global development challenges effectively. Exchange.Design contributed insights on the advancements in AI and reflected on both the data security risks and the transformative case studies demonstrating AI’s impact on major global issues.
Transforming Data Interaction: Key Takeaways from Our Work with AI-Driven Context Augmentation
Over the past year, our team has dedicated efforts to developing tools that empower organizations to securely and transparently leverage large language models in combination with their own internal content. Reflecting on extensive development and collaboration with some of our partners, we've gained insights that have helped to shape our thinking on how context augmented AI solutions can best support organizations that aim to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Partner Spotlight: Barri Shorey of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
On February 5-6, 2024, the Exchange Design team facilitated a hybrid training on data governance and AI for decision making for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. We sat down with Barri Shorey, who coordinated the training for 20 staff at the Foundation headquarters in Westlake Village, California.
Team Spotlight: Ziad Achkar and the Digital Development Guidebook
Elizabeth Njoroge and Nora Lindström launching the Digital Development Guidebook at the ICT4D Conference in Accra, Ghana. Photo credit: CRS/ICT4D Conference.
Localizing Digital Public Goods
We are excited to contribute to the dialogue on digital development through the "Localizing Digital Public Goods" paper, recently published in DAI's CDA Insights series. This paper reflects a growing alignment among global donors and implementers on the importance of local ownership in digital technology investments. It emphasizes the need for digital solutions to be not only effective but also equitable, leveraging the full potential of digital technologies and data under the stewardship of local actors.
Introducing Supplementary Knowledge Base Integrations
At Exchange.Design, our mission with evidencebase.ai has always been clear: to empower our partners with advanced AI and large language models to manage and interpret vast amounts of information. Our partners are at the forefront of addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, including global health, climate change, gender equality, and conflict resolution. Our commitment is to provide them with secure, transparent, and reliable machine-learning tools that can transform the way they work.
Expanded LLM Options and Improved User Experience
At Exchange.Design, we are excited to announce a significant enhancement to evidencebase.ai’s capabilities. As part of our ongoing efforts to diversify and improve the AI models available to our users, we have now integrated with Amazon Bedrock and Azure OpenAI. This integration allows us to leverage the robust infrastructure of two of the largest cloud service providers, enhancing the performance, scability and security of our AI solutions.
Why We Are Building an Open Source Interface for Generative Artificial Intelligence
We believe that the most important innovation for 2024 will be building an open-source interface for individuals and organizations to access the full potential of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI).
Partner Spotlight: Shadrock Roberts of Mercy Corps
Shadrock Roberts, Mercy Corps' Director of Data Protection, Privacy, and Ethical AI, shares a compelling vision of the future, where advanced tools like Evidencebase.ai transform the humanitarian sector by unlocking the full potential of AI. Reflecting on past projects, the director notes how early AI applications, once at the forefront, now pale in comparison to the abilities of modern language models.
Evidencebase.ai - October Product Update
We're pleased to present our Fall 2023 update on the advancements of evidencebase.ai. Here's a sneak peek of our pending feature release and what lies ahead.
Announcing Evidencebase.ai - Integrated Conversational AI Solutions
Over the past year, we’ve written a bit about our efforts to keep up with the pace of conversational AI solutions. It seems like just yesterday we were all trying to figure out how natural language processing and image classification could create new efficiencies for projects trying to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges. However, the beginning of 2023 saw an explosion of interest in AI, largely thanks to the impressive capabilities of large language models. While these tools may offer a series of efficiencies in the realm of text generation, they’re not without faults.
Can LLMs Reliably Support Domain-Specific Research?
In our previous blog, we delved into advancements in data management and analysis tools with Microsoft Fabric and Copilot in Power BI. As we continue on this journey of harnessing the rapid evolution of machine learning and artificial intelligence for international development projects, we now shift our focus to the transformative capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and their potential impact on domain-specific applications. In doing so, it is essential to acknowledge that text-focused machine learning has been a subject of research and development for several years. From sentiment analysis to text classification, our daily digital experiences are heavily shaped by computers’ abilities to understand text. However, the recent breakthroughs in LLMs, such as ChatGPT and others, have propelled the field forward, enabling us to explore new possibilities in understanding and processing language.
What Microsoft Fabric and Copilot Mean for International Development Programs
Business intelligence tools have long been recognized for their potential to transform decision-making processes. However, the steep learning curve associated with many of these tools often poses significant challenges for organizations, hindering their ability to fully capitalize on the power of their data. Microsoft's recent unveiling of Microsoft Fabric and Copilot in Power BI signals a potential breakthrough in this landscape. These tools not only promise advanced capabilities in data integration, analytics, and insight generation, but they also bring a new level of user-friendliness to the table.
Enhancing Water Quality Monitoring in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Water quality is a crucial concern in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, requiring regular testing to ensure the well-being and sustainability of this vital ecosystem. This summer, we are excited to collaborate with Spa Creek Conservancy and Anne Arundel Community College to manage weekly water testing in the region through the development and management of a mobile data collection and analysis toolkit.
Exchange.Design and FFP Announce Partnership
We are excited to announce our new partnership with The Fund for Peace, a leading organization in the field of conflict resolution and prevention. Our collaboration will focus on data-aligned decision-making in international development programs, with the goal of improving the effectiveness of these programs through local leadership and ultimately leading to more positive outcomes for the communities they serve.
The Rise of Low Code Tools: Benefits and Drawbacks
Low code tools have emerged as a powerful tool in the world of software development. These platforms allow users to develop software applications with minimal coding skills, reducing the need for specialized developers and potentially speeding up the development process. Low code tools have been gaining popularity in recent years due to their ease of use and rapid application development capabilities, and they are increasingly being used in international development programs. However, before diving into low code solutions, it's important to weigh their pros and cons.
Exchange.Design and GeoPoll Announce Partnership
International development programs often struggle to effectively address complex challenges in the communities they serve. With limited resources, it can be difficult to determine where to allocate funds and how to measure project impact over time. To help address these challenges, Exchange.Design has recently partnered with GeoPoll, a global leader in survey research and data collection, to improve data-aligned decision-making.
Five Key Factors for Successful ML Integration in International Development
Machine learning (ML) has been a widely discussed topic in the development sector due to its potential to transform how organizations approach complex problems. The integration of ML into international development work can help organizations to make more informed decisions, reduce costs, and optimize resources. However, integrating ML into an organization's work can be a complex and challenging process. In this article, we will discuss five considerations that international development organizations can take to prepare for ML integration.
Unlocking the Power of Spatial Data: Building Maps with Multiple Layers
Choropleth maps are a valuable tool for understanding geographic regions and the patterns of data that exist within them. This is particularly relevant in the field of international development, where researchers and policymakers often need to understand the distribution of resources, poverty, or development indicators across different countries or regions. Choropleth maps allow us to visualize this data and identify areas that may require more attention or resources.
Greg Maly Joins Exchange Design As Chief Technology Officer
Greg Maly joined Exchange Design as Chief Technology Officer, where he will be responsible for building data solutions for digital transformation with partner. Formerly the Associate Director of Product Development & Data Science at DAI, Greg will lead a team to provide data-informed strategy development, integrated dashboards for decision-making, AI/ML readiness assessments, and global primary data collection.