EDequity Global has begun a five week virtual training of youths from across the globe at the Global Amazon Elexa Skills Challenge.
The free artificial intelligence, AI, short course which kicked off on Saturday is open to women, under-represented college/university students and entrepreneurs (ages 18+) to help kickstart their AI journey and the economy.
The programme is designed to provide beginner-level builders with cloud education, live mentoring/coaching and access to scholarships, apprenticeships, job opportunities, startup accelerators, funding and more.
EDequity Global’s goal is to fuel progress in the area of economic opportunity and cloud education for global women and underrepresented youth, leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) and to explore how companies and governments can collaborate with educators to prepare students for the #FutureOfWork and #Entrepreneurship.
The youths are drawn from 13 countries ranging from Nigeria, the United States, India, United Kingdom, Kenya, and more.
EDequity Global has strategically designed the Global Alexa Skills Challenge to accommodate multiple time zones.
“According to a report published by the World Economic Forum, WEF, 11 million girls may not return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With millions of young adults out of school or work, it is imperative to cushion the effect of this global pandemic and disruption of education,” EDequity Global said.
It explained that the programme is designed to teach the basics of building an Alexa skill using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and introduce essential professional skills, career-development tools, resources and learning.
The AI primer is said to be aimed at beginners who have never built an Alexa skill and it uses similar methods of explaining the basics as other books and tutorials available.
It is said to differ in that all the lessons and demos aim to get participants started building on AWS and imagining what is possible with voice and cloud technology in a fun, equitable, diverse and inclusive learning culture.
