WCIT MONITOR WCIT Charity Quarterly Dec 2019 | Page 5

Charity Quarterly 2019 has been an exciting year for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and Project RIO – their AI enabled support, signposting and triage service. Matched funding has now been secured, thanks to the seed funding from WCIT Charity, and the project continues to develop positively. With many significant hurdles overcome and decisions made, CALM are now planning the build of the technology that powers Project RIO, with the initial stage one launch aimed at Q2 of 2020. Over the next quarter CALM are focussing on: • Decision made and implementation planning for new software and database • Stage one ethics framework • Conversation design and creation • Build of the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) This MVP will initially be a support and signposting service that will operate out of service hours, but, once the new software has been implemented, the MVP will be integrated with the webchat software to fully deliver stage one of the project, by providing intelligent hold and signposting during service hours in addition to the out of hours service. In addition to providing a highly valuable service to beneficiaries, the MVP will also allow CALM to start collecting vital data on out of hours demand and service user need stats a couple of months ahead of the full stage one launch of RIO. CALM is leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK and the cause of 125 deaths every week. When times are tough it can be hard to reach out to someone and get the help you need. Stories like that of Jared* below show just how vital the CALM webchat can be at times like these. “Since I was a teenager I have had very low-mood, dark thoughts and suicidal thoughts that I didn’t understand. I saw a poster for CALM one day in London and that lead me to the CALM website. I used the Webchat service who were great. I just couldn't speak about stuff then, but typing was fine. They helped me realise all the good stuff I had going and suggested things I could do to make changes.” Abi Aageson, RIO Project Director, said, “We know how important our webchat service is to people who are struggling and RIO will allow us to provide improved support to them. Crucially, it will allow us to provide more support outside of our current service hours of 5pm to midnight.” * = Names have been changed for privacy The WCIT AI/ML Learning Exchange It’s been nearly a year since the idea of the AI/ML Learning Exchange was first conceived to support the two 2018 Charity Award winners, and many other charities embarking on the use of Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning willing to share their experiences and lessons learnt. But what a busy year it has been: 12 charities have joined, 9 workshops and 2 key events have been held, and a platform created for collaboration and sharing of assets. Most importantly though has been the exchange of ideas, learnings and passionate debate between the charities. CALM and Missing People are certainly pioneers in the Charity Sector when it comes to AI. Their experiences, coupled with practical advice and thought leadership from WCIT members and external experts, are clearly making a difference to other charity members who are at the early stages of deciding when and how best to make use of AI/ML. So far, typically, it’s about whether to triage incoming requests for help, using AI to answer straightforward questions, so those people who need to speak to a human get through more quickly. However using AI as a first contact point also seems to help people open up more quickly on their problems so it’s not just about speed but also helping to make the interaction with a person more effective and faster too. Our key events are designed to match the charities’ priorities so we started with the ‘AI Ethics Debate’, which provided a rich and probing debate exposing the myths that surround the issue and assessing the real implications of the opposing views. Our second key event tackled ‘AI Data’ and included a hands-on session using a data analytics tool with real live data to give a practical insight into the art of the possible and essential need of good clean congruent data. Next up will be ‘AI Security’ (co-hosted with the WCIT Security Panel) and ‘The Business Case for AI in Charities’. It's not too late if you would like to join in - if you think you could help the charities with their AI/ML challenges, please contact Maxine Ricketts, Chair of the WCIT AI/ML Learning Exchange for Charities, at [email protected]. The WCIT AI/ML Learning Exchange provides a sales-free, vendor-neutral and technology-agnostic environment for charities embarking on AI/ML.