About this Challenge

The Artificial Intelligence to Accelerate Inclusion Challenge (AI2AI Challenge) is a global call for existing innovative AI solutions seeking scale to accelerate inclusion and economic empowerment. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, there is a pressing need to ensure that AI solutions advance inclusive economic growth, promote inclusion, and address inequalities for individuals and communities. With the launch of this challenge, data.org and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, with regional support from Dasra, aim to foster applications focused on inclusive growth that are climate-aware, gender-equitable, racially sensitive, and locally informed, all while focusing on responsible AI principles and practices. 

The Challenge will employ the following key considerations as the design philosophy to modulate the application and selection processes to encourage applicants from communities and environments marked by systemic inequities and digital disparities:  

• Ensure that proposed AI solutions serve the public good to transform society for the better, uplift people’s lives, and help to advance economic growth for individuals in underserved communities – and do not further widen the digital divide in these communities.  
• AI is advancing quickly and can exacerbate and widen inequalities. We seek proposals where communities are positioned as active drivers of the design and application of inclusive AI.  
• To underscore Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) principles, we are seeking proposals from the diverse range of communities that are frequently left out of the AI for social impact conversation. 
• The challenge seeks to democratize AI services and solutions for historically underserved populations. We are putting a holistic process in place to mobilize resources (award money, technical assistance, access to an enabling environment) to support organizations as they advance their AI solutions.  
• We understand that there are infrastructural challenges in many geographies around the world that hinder access to large datasets and certain technologies. We seek solutions that offer new approaches or suggestions to elevate existing technologies.