Artificial Intelligence Training for Young People by Vodafone Foundation and Habitat Association

THE NEW PROJECT OF VODAFONE FOUNDATION AND HABITAT ASSOCIATION WILL REACH 35 THOUSAND YOUNG PEOPLE IN A YEAR WITH “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STARS”

Vodafone Foundation, in collaboration with the Habitat Association, launched a new project to raise generations equipped for the digital future. Under the “Artificial Intelligence Stars” project, middle school students aged 11-14 and high school students aged 14-18 in 81 cities of Türkiye will be trained in artificial intelligence. Students participating in the project will also be able to develop in different areas through global content and activities. The project aims to reach 35 thousand students in its first year.

Committed to pioneering social change and development, Vodafone Foundation carries on its activities and continues to prepare young generations for the digital future. Following the “Coding Tomorrow” project, launched 8 years ago, which taught coding to more than 400 thousand children, the Foundation has launched a new digital education project called “Artificial Intelligence Stars”. As part of the latest project in collaboration with Habitat Association, artificial intelligence trainings will be given to middle school students aged 11-14 and high school students aged 14-18 in 81 cities across Türkiye. Through the trainings to be conducted by young volunteers and teachers, students will have the opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of AI and develop their projects. Various development fields will also be offered for project participants through global content and activities. The “Artificial Intelligence Stars” project is expected to reach 35 thousand students in its first year.

The “Artificial Intelligence Stars” project was introduced at a meeting held at Izmir Buca Atatürk Secondary School with the participation of Engin Aksoy - CEO of Vodafone Türkiye, Hasan Süel - Chair of Vodafone Türkiye Foundation and Sezai Hazır - Chair of Habitat Association.

Engin Aksoy, CEO of Vodafone Türkiye, stated:

“A prerequisite for countries to realize the gains that can arise from digital transformation is that the society has the skills to keep up with it. Considering the indicators of society’s digital skills, we see a significant area of development for Türkiye. According to the ‘Digital Türkiye 2030 Report’ we prepared in collaboration with Policy Analytics Lab, 30% of individuals in Türkiye have at least basic digital skills, while this rate is 54% in European Union countries. However, the official target of the European Union is to increase this rate to 80% by 2030. For Türkiye to meet the European Union’s 2030 target, the population with digital skills needs to increase by 12% every year. To achieve the Digital Society target, there is a need to eliminate inequality in digital skills. As Vodafone, we are carrying out many projects in this field. And now, we are preparing for a new project that will increase the competencies of young people in AI. We see that AI has entered everyone’s lives in recent years, especially with the rise in interest in productive AI. Artificial intelligence will provide a positive transformation in general, and we believe this trend should increase globally. We shoulder the responsibility for Türkiye to be among the leading countries in this area.”

Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Türkiye Foundation, made the following remarks:

“Our Foundation projects, which we shape in line with the social needs of our country, proceed at full speed. We have reached over 400 thousand children with the ‘Coding Tomorrow’ project, which we have successfully carried out with Habitat Association for 8 years. Considering that the number of Scratch users in Türkiye is over 2 million, it is possible to say that 2 out of every 5 children in our country have received coding training under the ‘Coding Tomorrow’ project. As a follow-up to this project, we are now launching AI trainings for young people in collaboration with the Habitat Association. Through our new project, which we call ‘Artificial Intelligence Stars’, using the experience we gained from the ‘Coding Tomorrow’ project, our aim is to pioneer the breakthrough and educational expansion process in AI in our country. Our goal is to ensure that young generations are technologically equipped and to enable them to combine their creative ideas with new technologies by learning and leveraging the AI technology that we now see in every field. We want to raise a generation that not only consumes technology but also produces it. Under the project, middle and high school students can produce AI content with various tools and develop their projects. During our project’s first year, we aim to reach 35 thousand students. As Vodafone Foundation, we will keep working for the future of young generations.”

Sezai Hazır, the Chair of the Habitat Association, expressed the following:

“AI stands out as one of the most crucial technologies of today and is expected to play an even more prominent role in every part of our lives in the future. This makes educating and raising young people’s awareness of AI and its sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning a critical step for the digital transformation of our country and the increase of our global competitiveness. As Vodafone Foundation and Habitat Association, we focus on training young people in AI and providing equal opportunities in this field, aiming to raise the AI leaders of the future. These leaders, we believe, will produce innovative solutions that will make Türkiye one of the leading countries in AI in the global arena and speed up the country’s digital transformation. Supporting young people’s interest and curiosity in technology, empowering, and encouraging them to explore is of great value to us. This is why we see the ‘Artificial Intelligence Stars’ project as a training program and a platform to help young people fulfill their potential.”

6-hour AI trainings to be provided

In the “Artificial Intelligence Stars” project, students will initially receive 6 hours of an introduction to AI through AI trainings and classroom workshops and will be exposed to coding examples. After 6 hours of training, students can apply voice and image recognition examples with AI and further deepen their knowledge in areas such as AI, Python, and virtual reality by following the training content and course modules on the project website and with the help of volunteer trainers. They will also be able to work with AI in sustainability and process the theme of “Green Planet” through technological innovations. A global hackathon will be organized under the SUJ (SkillsUploadJr) framework, conducted in cooperation with Vodafone foundations in Europe, to enable students to develop their projects.

A unique content committee was formed

Of the 276 trainers participating in the “Artificial Intelligence Stars” project, 70% are expected to be schoolteachers. The trainings will take place in 45 village technology classes, 10 “From Waste to Code” classes, 3 AI classes, 4 container technology classes, and in a mobile tent school that will visit 12 cities nationwide. As part of the project, an AI guidebook was also prepared to help young people learn the basic concepts of AI and gain advanced knowledge. Besides, the Artificial Intelligence Project Content Committee, consisting of academics, experts, professionals from different professions and age groups involved in AI, and high school and university students, will provide regular consultancy in shaping the project’s content.