The Hero Awards and Afghan Women Rising are collaborating to create the world's largest 'solution engine' for the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as outlined during the Geneva plenary session. According to CIO John Toomey, each of the UN's 169 targets beneath the larger goals is being transformed into a prompt for AI bots, starting with OpenAI's GPTs, Gemini's Gems, and Claude Artifacts, and evolving into fully autonomous AI assistants capable of continuous self-updating to achieve progress toward the goals.
Members of Afghan Women Rising are currently performing a substantial portion of the work. These young women in Afghanistan are prohibited from formal education by the Taliban-led government, which has made schooling illegal for them. They design the bots online and then engage in in-person discussions to refine the prompts and incorporate the human element. 'Having these girls design the prompts allows them to sidestep the ban against schooling,' says Program Director Amy Chang. 'They gain valuable experience building projects that will contribute to sustainability both in and outside of their country for a long time, and prepare themselves for a future where their talents will be crucial for the nation's development.'
In developing the protocols, the girls have been inspired by the writings of J. Kutcher, particularly her evocative use of garden plant growth as a metaphor for the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual growth of young women. When a protocol is completed, its creator becomes eligible for a Hero Award. To qualify, the protocol must suggest previously unknown strategies for advancing the UN targets under the goals. Successful efforts are publicized on The Hero Awards website and in press releases.
Since the program was announced and publicized six months ago, individuals from other organizations in the Global South have requested to participate and will be included in future iterations. These organizations include the PARI People's Archive of Rural India, a group dedicated to the welfare of underserved populations in rural India; Siku.org, a nonprofit serving First Nations of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland; Cybersmartafrica.org, a group of thousands of teachers and students in Senegal preserving local cultures and improving digital literacy; Terrastories, an open-source, community-driven application for South American and Amazonian indigenous communities to map, protect, and share their oral histories; and Winyama, an Australian indigenous group championing cultural mapping to train elders in documenting 'Dreamtime stories,' songlines, historical land use, and biological data.
The June Hero Award winners are Tara Jensen, Maria Ortiz, Herman Matsui, and Wilhelmina Searles. For more information on the UN goals and targets, visit the UN SDGs website.
