By: Anam Khan

Two Pakistani brothers, Hamza and Haroon Choudery, immigrated to Brooklyn, New York from rural Pakistan in 1998. Years later, all grown up and excelling in their respective careers, they co-founded a nonprofit called A.I. for Anyone, an Artificial Intelligence education resource that aims to make AI easy to understand. Their organization has grown exponentially since launching in 2017, and was recently featured in CNBC as well. The NewsRun interviewed A.I. for Anyone co-founder, Hamza Choudery, to learn more about this unique initiative that simplifies AI, even for people who don’t have a background in computer science!

According to Hamza, AI will have a disproportionate impact on underserved communities, the same communities that lack access to proper education materials. Haroon, Hamza, and their friend, Mac McMahon, set out to increase the accessibility of effective AI education resources.

“At the end of the day, our mission isn’t to create more data scientists (although, that may be a byproduct of our work). Our mission is to democratize AI education, so everyone, irrespective of background, has a voice in guiding when, where, and how the technology is deployed,” said Hamza.

Like most nonprofits and startups, turning an idea into action can be challenging. Hamza said establishing credibility early on was difficult.

“We exerted a lot of energy into cold calling principals and getting them to agree to bring us in for a workshop. After we delivered a few workshops, we were able to build on our momentum and scale more quickly,” he said.

24-year-old Hamza works at WeWork, and 26-year-old Haroon works at a healthcare company. Hamza himself doesn’t have a technical background in AI, but he helps spearhead the business development function, and finds creative ways to scale their impact. However, Executive Director, Haroon, and Director of Programs, Junaid, have technical roles in the AI space. As a result, they are able to offer subject-matter expertise and thought leadership on the AI front.

A.I. for Anyone is based in New York City. We were curious to know how much of the Pakistani diaspora has applied to the AI for Anyone workshop. Hamza said he doesn’t have exact figures, but they have definitely seen a large amount of Pakistani support. When asked if they plan to expand A.I. for Anyone workshops in Pakistan, Hamza said yes! A few academics from Pakistan have already reached out to collaborate.

“Haroon and I always look for ways to give back to our homeland. Developing a strategy around how to most effectively bring this content to Pakistan is on the roadmap for 2020,” he said.

Hamza and Haroon are still juggling their full-time jobs while running their nonprofit. Since we are total nerds when it comes to schedules and to-do lists, we asked Hamza how he manages to stay organized:

• Remember why you started. When you’re working a full-time job, it’s easy to want to stray away from other priorities. To remain consistent, it’s important to remember why you started in the first place. If you don’t start with a genuine passion, it’s hard to fake it.

• Invest in infrastructure. Our team at A.I. For Anyone did the heavy lifting of setting up systems and processes to make our operations as smooth as possible. I recommend making that investment upfront, so you minimize growing pains.

• Don’t try to multitask! It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to multitask. I try to block off my calendar and devote all of my energy to the task at hand.

Since AI is also uncharted territory for The NewsRun, we had to ask: What is the key to making AI material easy to understand? Hamza said:

“With a diverse team, composed of individuals with backgrounds in computer science, philosophy, and business, we’re able to sense check the content to ensure it doesn’t include jargon or nebulous concepts. We also apply the following test to our workshop curriculum: ‘Could a child understand it?’ If the answer is no, we iterate. Ideally, we strive for our content to be analogous to Pixar movies, which are entertaining for children and adults alike. We not only want to make the content easy to digest for people without a technical background, we want it to also provide interesting perspectives for the more advanced consumers of our content.”

Hamza and the team at A.I. for Anyone don’t want students to be intimidated by AI. After teaching students the fundamentals of AI, the team encourages them to consume news about AI and maintain a pulse on the technology. According to Hamza, students should also try to predict how AI may impact the industry or role they eventually want to pursue. Hamza thinks this foresight can help guide students towards a career path that is “less prone to disruption.”

Many of us think about whether AI will have a more positive or negative impact on our lives. Here is what Hamza has to say:

“Although the AI revolution is virtually inevitable, the net impact is hard to predict. Where AI sits on the spectrum between “good” and “bad” is to be determined, so it’s our responsibility to try to guide the direction. Developing responsible AI will require widespread participation; we will need input from all groups and communities.”

Anam Khan is a content strategist and founder of The NewsRun.