NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arjuna Solutions, Chief Executive Officer, Adam Treiser was commissioned to deliver the Keynote Presentation on developments related to “Artificial Intelligence for Humanity” at the United Nations Human Horizons Conference, April 14, 2018. Eight thousand four hundred participants attended over UN Live-Streaming TV, while hundreds of Government Officials, UN Agency and NGO Leaders participated in person.
The event provided a neutral platform for Treiser and leaders from around the world to discuss societal, political, ethical and technical issues related to the fast-paced development of artificial intelligence solutions. The perspectives fostered international dialogue and cooperation around the most meaningful uses of A.I. innovations in serving disenfranchised communities.
The discussions provided various insights on how advanced technological changes can be harnessed to achieve sustainable development. The keynote speaker and expert panelists, including Michael Gorriarán from Arjuna, covered a wide range of topics on the technical applications of artificial intelligence, and how these innovations have begun to impact people and prosperity worldwide.
Treiser observed in his keynote address that “through artificial intelligence, we now have machine algorithms that are capable of learning, but learning is not the same as knowledge. The application of learning is knowledge, and this needs to be cultivated carefully as A.I. solutions begin to act autonomously on behalf of mankind. Our collective challenge is to ensure that our values are deeply imbued and inculcated into A.I. algorithms. This is our most significant challenge, as it will surface the values-based decision-making that will be debated, ratified and codified into A.I. tools. This is the next frontier of societal evolution…one where we must ensure that our A.I. machines are capable of effectively applying their learnings and executing knowledgeable decisions through the lens of contextually-rich societal values.”
This becomes immediately pertinent to all of us as public cloud services have made artificial intelligence accessible to individuals and organizations around the world. Treiser noted that given this breakthrough in technology and cloud services, how can we harness this capability for the betterment of society, especially in disenfranchised communities around the world?
Treiser is both a Professor and Practitioner of artificial intelligence. He is a distinguished professor of Decision Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and he established Arjuna Solutions to serve nonprofit organizations in the fulfillment of their charters.
Arjuna Solutions has been serving nonprofits with its ExactAsk Platform, an A.I. tool designed to address the core issue facing nonprofit organizations – Sustaining Adequate Levels of Funding. Arjuna’s ExactAsk algorithm has assessed millions of organizationally-specific donor records, acquiring specialized learning and knowledge on nonprofit fundraising optimization by organization.
Given the unique challenges of fundraising in today’s environment, with needs far outstripping the ability of governments or charitable organizations to keep pace, and the formation of many new charitable organizations each year, it is more critical than ever for existing nonprofits to find new, efficient methods of sustaining funding. In addition, Individual Donors continue to comprise over 70% of the revenue that nonprofit organizations secure. ExactAsk was designed to efficiently optimize fundraising from Individual Donors with “Individually Personalized Ask Amounts”. “ExactAsk creates a more equitable point of equilibrium between the value that donors place on the work of nonprofit organizations and the lifetime value of their actual donations,” notes Treiser.
Arjuna’s portfolio of highly visible nonprofit organizations has realized an average increase in annual fundraising of 19% in their first year of using ExactAsk and an increase of over 70% during their second year with the platform. ExactAsk has materially expanded the ability of nonprofit organizations to fulfill their charters through more efficient increases in fundraising.
“Artificial intelligence affects virtually every citizen and every aspect of humanity, so the focus of the summit was to ensure that humanity and societal values remained at the forefront of our thinking in A.I. development,” said Treiser
Discussions advocated for the development and democratization of A.I. solutions that can be used to address global challenges, especially those related to poverty, hunger, health, education and the environment. A special emphasis was placed on leveraging A.I. to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by Heads of State and Governments Globally in September 2015 with a core focus on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets.
Arjuna ExactAsk Artificial Intelligence Platform for Nonprofit Fundraising
- ExactAsk website (www.exactask.com)
- CIO Apps Magazine: https://www.cioapplications.com/magazines/March2018/MachineLearning/
