Are you ready for an extraordinary fusion of technology, creativity, and inspiration? “AI Uncorked” invites you to an exciting and playful evening where we uncork the potential of artificial intelligence… along with a bottle of vino.
Are you ready for an extraordinary fusion of technology, creativity, and inspiration? “AI Uncorked” invites you to an exciting and playful evening where we uncork the potential of artificial intelligence… along with a bottle of vino.
Techstrong Group, the power source for people and technology, has unveiled its latest venture, Techstrong.ai.
Techstrong.ai is Techstrong Group’s community to discuss AI – all the time. Techstrong.ai covers how AI is disrupting multiple industry verticals, such as tech, media, finance, manufacturing, transportation and health. The community is creating content such as news, analysis, case studies and learning opportunities, in different form factors, such as written articles, podcasts, videos and interactive events.
TechStrong.ai is a part of the TechStrong Group company and larger portfolio. A Boca Raton-headquartered omniversal media company, TechStrong covers the IT industry and practices that are reshaping the world of technology. Techstrong Group accelerates understanding of technologies that drive business. With a broad set of IT-related communities and offerings, Techstrong Group is the only media company serving the needs of IT leaders and practitioners with news, research, analysis, events, education, certifications and professional development. The company’s focus is digital transformation, DevOps, cybersecurity, cloud and cloud-native. Techstrong Group business units include: Techstrong Media, Techstrong Associations, Techstrong Research, Techstrong Learning and Techstrong Live!. For technology providers, Techstrong business units offer many ways to reach IT professionals and tell their stories.
This addition to their portfolio of companies aims to document the forward march of AI as it rapidly disrupts one vertical market after another and become a destination site and community dedicated to the creation and distribution of AI-related content. Techstrong.ai will be covering many verticals in a variety of mediums, including current issues and concerns, use-cases within industries, research, news and Q&As.
Why Techstrong.ai now?
AI is not a new concept. By the late 1980s, AI made the leap from science fiction to science fact, and since the 2000s, many dollars have been spent and many hours of brain power expended to try to understand, apply and advance AI for real-world use cases.
“For many folks, though, AI really got real with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The large language model (LLM) generative AI with a chatbot front-end has ignited a firestorm of attention worldwide. VC money is pouring in and everyone is trying to “AI enable” their applications; at the same time, there’s a vocal backlash from thought leaders trying to stop–or at least slow down– its further development until we can properly assess the risks and try to put some mitigating measures in place,” Alan wrote in a recent blog.
Alan Shimel has years of experience in venture-backed tech startups, especially in the cybersecurity field. He started his journey in tech with the onset of the commercial internet in the mid-90s and started and sold a company during that period. After writing and speaking about tech topics for years, Shimel launched MediaOps, the predecessor of Techstrong Group, in 2013. MediaOps grew from being a single-person blog, to a blog with multiple authors, and an online community.
Shimel pointed out his realization that AI is not just another technology trend, but a civilization changer that deserves its own platform, so he created TechStrong.ai. “If AI is going to change civilization, we can’t afford to just cover it as a side topic in our other channels. It has to have its own place,” Shimel said.
But for better or worse, the AI genie is out of the bottle.
TechStrong’s view on the future of AI.
“Every once in a while a tech innovation comes along that transcends technology and tears through the very fabric of civilization. We believe that AI is that kind of technology–perhaps the biggest thing since the internet itself. AI will disrupt one vertical market after another,” said Alan Shimel, Founder & CEO at Techstrong Group. “That is what Techstrong.ai is all about. We intend to document the forward march of AI as it disrupts so many models in existence today.”
Shimel expressed his conviction that AI is going to have a profound impact on humanity. “I’m not here to scare anyone that AI is going to take your job away,” Shimel remarked. “AI is not going to make fewer jobs. It’ll make more jobs. They’ll just be different jobs. And that’s part of what our mission is: to show these different jobs. How you not only survive but thrive in an AI world. We think AI’s impact is going to be like a seismic wave that works its way through civilization. What does it mean for young people? What does it mean for careers?” he said.
“All the various forms of AI are transforming how businesses around the world operate,” said Mike Vizard, Chief Content Officer at Techstrong Group. “With the launch of Techstrong.ai we are committing to not only providing strategic insights into where to apply AI, but also demystifying a set of technologies that at their core are based on familiar data science techniques and principles.”
Techstrong Group’s mission is to report the news and create content for technology professionals looking for fresh insights and new skills. Techstrong Group’s portfolio of companies includes DevOps.com, Security Boulevard, Cloud Native Now, Digital CxO and Techstrong TV.
Mike says that TechStrong.ai welcomes your support and participation, whether as a contributor, community member or any other way you want to participate. If you would like to be involved, please contact us at info@techstrong.ai.
“We don’t make the news,” Shimel stated. “We report the news. So as this continues to unfold, we’ll keep on top of it.”
On June 7th, Levatas announced a strategic first-of-its-kind partnership with Boston Dynamics.
Based in West Palm Beach, Levatas is a leading provider of AI software and solutions for automating industrial inspections with robots, cameras and drones. The company creates and delivers end-to-end solutions that enable robots, drones, remote sensors, and camera systems to autonomously perform equipment monitoring, safety checks, and site surveillance tasks in industrial environments.
As part of the collaboration with Boston Dynamics, Levatas’ industrial AI software will be made available to Boston Dynamics customers through the 3.3 software release for the advanced mobile robot, Spot®, marking the first computer vision based inspection capability made available on the platform. The partnership expands on each company’s work to automate inspection tasks that are considered challenging, dangerous and otherwise undesirable for humans, freeing up employees in the field to handle more valuable work.
The MIT spinoff and Mass-based, Boston Dynamics, is on a mission is to imagine and create exceptional robots that enrich people’s lives. Building machines that can approximate the mobility, dexterity and agility of people and animals is a grand challenge. Curiosity and respect for the natural world are at the heart of the company’s work on robots. Boston Dynamics sees products derived from this work as the next step in the human history of building machines to reduce the danger, repetition and physically difficult aspects of work.
The first Levatas-powered inspection model being made available to Boston Dynamics customers is designed to detect and read analog gauges. Additional tools, available through Levatas’ Cognitive Inspection Platform, give customers the ability to autonomously detect and alert for unauthorized people, identify various forms of corrosion, notify employees of unsafe conditions like liquid spills, and detect unexpected changes to an environment.
“We are incredibly proud to work alongside Boston Dynamics, whose Spot robot represents the most sophisticated and capable option available for navigating challenging environments to automate inspections,” said Chris Nielsen, Founder and CEO of Levatas. “Pairing Spot’s incredible mobility with our Cognitive Inspection Platform gives customers the ability to automate inspection programs at an incredible scale.”
In April this year, Levatas announced the opening of their new Industrial AI Lab. The lab allows operations and innovation teams the ability to rapidly explore the capabilities of our Cognitive Inspection Platform in real-time, both in-person and remotely. It also provides a dedicated space for our engineers to incubate, test, resolve issues discovered in the field, and even explore new ideas for the way robots and advanced AI can be used for automated inspection.
In a recent Levatas blog announcing the partnership, the company wrote, “But this was hardly an overnight success. It was in October 2019 when Levatas first recognized the immense potential of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot as the ideal platform to collect data in challenging environments; and, being a company that specializes in building computer vision models, data from hard-to-navigate places was what we needed. For this reason, each company seemed to complement each other extraordinarily well.
It was then that Spot became our firm’s lead platform for data collection and the automation of industrial inspections. Our team became laser focused on providing the Boston Dynamics robot the cognitive intelligence necessary to tackle the most demanding inspection tasks. Over the years that followed, our team set out to develop Industrial AI models specifically designed for Spot. Along the way, we made friends, delivered customer wins, broke things, fixed things, learned a ton, and probably had more Spot units operating at once than anyone else in the world. Cut to today, and we have created an entire platform of Industrial AI tools that can read analog gauges, identify thermal anomalies, listen for air and gas leaks, detect forms of corrosion, and even alert humans to any unexpected changes in their environments.”
Levatas has worked closely with Boston Dynamics’ sales and Spot development teams to help enterprise customers identify suitable use cases, set up the software, and integrate the technology into their existing systems and workflows. This new partnership designation reflects Levatas’ ability to assist joint customers in scaling these solutions.
“Our collaboration with Levatas has been instrumental in bringing advanced automation and inspection capabilities to our customers,” said Renee Burns, VP of Partnerships at Boston Dynamics. “Their capabilities align with ours, and their experience and track record helps our joint customers drive the value and impact they are looking for with robotic automation.”
The combined Levatas and Boston Dynamics solution is already significantly impacting industries such as manufacturing, electric utilities, oil and gas, and petrochemicals. Prominent customers utilizing this innovative solution include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Avangrid, BMW, and Global Foundries.
Sage Dental, the largest dental service organization in South Florida, announced the opening of its 100th high-tech location.
The Boca Raton-based dental service organization (DSO) is committed to providing consistent, high-quality care, as well as non-clinical business and administrative services to affiliated practices. The 100th office followed its acquisition of the Kendall Dental Care in Miami. As part of the company’s ongoing expansion strategy to increase its presence in the Southeastern United States, this milestone represents a critical moment in the evolution of Sage. Since 2020, Sage has nearly doubled the number of practices in its network in Florida and Georgia and, in terms of locations, it is now the largest DSO operating in south Florida.
“Everyone on our team is very proud to achieve this milestone as Sage Dental continues in its mission to make high-quality, affordable dental care available to an increasing number of families and individuals in the regions that we serve,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Marler.
Sage, which has served more than 1 million patients since 2020, offers general, specialty, and cosmetic dental care, including restorative, prosthodontic, endodontic, pediatric, and orthodontic treatment. As the DSO continues to expand, its leadership team expects to add at least 20 more practices to Sage’s network by the end of 2023.
“Our modern facilities and highly skilled clinicians and support staff, combined with best-in-class dental technologies, have helped to propel our rapid growth. Since Sage was founded more than 25 years ago, dentistry has evolved exponentially, and Sage has continually evolved with it to ensure we deliver patients the best dental care possible,” continued Marler.
As it maintains its focus on future growth, Sage’s dentists, hygienists, and dental support staff will continue providing personalized care combined with the latest tools and technologies – including artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostics – to deliver the best possible oral health care to patients.
In addition to expansion into new regions and the continued growth of its workforce, Sage Dental has established initiatives with its partner Pearl who is leading the global dental AI revolution with groundbreaking computer vision solutions that elevate efficiency, accuracy and the standard of care in dentistry. Pearl is shaping the future of oral healthcare with a suite of FDA-cleared AI solutions developed to elevate the efficiency, accuracy, quality and consistency of dental care. Sage is one of the first DSOs to deploy Pearl’s AI-powered clinical insight solution company-wide, strengthening the standard of patient care across all Sage locations.
“Across all our practices, our team is constantly revisiting ways to help our patients have a better understanding of their oral health and the best treatment options that are available to them,” said Chief Clinical Officer and Senior Vice President Dr. Cindy Roark, DMD, MS. “Using state-of-the-art technologies, our dental professionals foster trust with patients by making more well-informed prognoses and better treatment decisions.”
Last year, Dr. Cindy Roark joined Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine Board of Fellows. In this volunteer role, Dr. Roark joined a group of strategic advisors who serve to further the school’s mission of developing and fostering a community of global leaders dedicated to improving human health by integrating dentistry and medicine at the forefront of education, research and patient care. She has always been an outspoken leader in the deployment of AI-driven solutions to improve the quality of care, accuracy of diagnosis, and overall patient experience.
“Harvard School of Dental Medicine is setting the bar for clinical excellence and innovation in dental technology,” said Dr. Roark. “I am thrilled to be in a position to support its trailblazing mission and to encourage the future leaders of dentistry to explore beyond what is currently believed to be possible in dentistry today.”
“In comparison with some of our competitors, Sage has taken a unique approach to executing our expansion strategy by incorporating, as evenly as possible, a blend of new and acquired practices into our universally branded network,” said Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President Jim Mizouni. “As we continue to fine-tune and execute our plans to scale the business, our long-term strategy includes expanding into the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions.”
Sage is currently accepting new patients at each of its 100 state-of-the-art practices which offer cutting-edge twenty-first century dental technologies, including teledentistry screening appointments, virtual check-ins, online scheduling, and paperless billing.
For more information on Sage Dental, visit https://mysagedental.com/
ChenMed, a national leading primary care provider based in South Florida, was recently recognized at the Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience Awards as this year’s Intelligent Talent Experience: Advocate of the Year.
Phenom, a purpose-driven HR tech company, recently announced the winners of the Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience Awards, recognizing organizations for exceptional achievements using intelligence, automation and experience to hire employees faster, develop them to their full potential and retain them longer. Through AI-powered solutions, employers increased efficiencies, and saved valuable time for all talent stakeholders — candidates, recruiters, managers, employees, HR and HRIS teams. Award recipients were honored at IAMPHENOM, the company’s premier conference for human resources hosted in Philadelphia.
“We’re celebrating the organizations whose platform use and partnerships are driving lasting impact across their businesses, their industries, their teams and HR as a whole,” said Jess Elmquist, Chief Human Resources Officer at Phenom.
On a mission to hire faster and better and simultaneously empower employee development and mobility with a talent marketplace, ChenMed is a model example for hypergrowth peers. By infusing hyper-personalized experiences into their hiring, development and retention strategies, ChenMed has increased quality applies, reduced time to fill and improved employee retention despite a challenging talent landscape.
When three out of every four professionals in healthcare are looking to leave the industry, providing a better talent experience is no longer optional — it’s critical to hire, develop, and retain workers.
Being a rapidly-growing primary care provider, ChenMed knows this firsthand. To succeed, they needed:
ChenMed is a family-owned, family-oriented organization serving underserved moderate-to-low-income seniors with complex chronic diseases. The company’s high-touch, VIP, preventive primary care works for patients and team members. Unlike typical primary care providers, ChenMed has a much lower doctor-patient ratio which allows doctors to spend more time with their patients, getting to know them and their concerns so we can better serve them. ChenMed has 100+ centers across 15 states and is a privately held and physician-led company.
“Because we’re in hypergrowth, we’re looking for ways to automate things so our recruiters don’t have to do them. Phenom helps us do that so our recruiters aren’t bogged down by administrative tasks and have time to spend with candidates,” stated Christin Davis, ChenMed’s Managing Director of HR Operations and Technology.
Above all, the ChenMed culture is what’s most important for Davis and her team to maintain: “This company’s mission is simple: helping seniors live longer and healthier lives. The only way to manage that mission is to buy into it. Now that we can easily see who identifies with our culture, it’s easier to make the right hiring choices.”
ChenMed is using the Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience platform to increase applies, reduce time to fill, and level employee turnover. Through AI-powered solutions, ChenMed is increasing efficiencies and saving valuable time for candidates, recruiters, managers, employees, HR, and HRIS teams and in a candidate-driven market time could cost you.
Additionally, when candidates have options, a streamlined professional and timely process helps give candidates the first impression they are looking for and HR professionals not lose out on that next best candidate.
Phenom has a purpose of helping a billion people find the right job. Through AI-powered talent experiences, employers are using Phenom to hire employees faster, develop them to their full potential, and retain them longer. The Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience platform seamlessly connects candidates, employees, recruiters, hiring managers, HR and HRIS — empowering over 500 diverse and global enterprises with innovative products including Phenom Career Site, Chatbot, CMS, CRM, AI Scheduling, Video Assessments, Campaigns, University Recruiting, Talent Marketplace, Career Pathing, Gigs, Mentoring, and Referrals.
Phenom has earned accolades including: Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies (3 consecutive years), Deloitte Technology’s Fast 500 (4 consecutive years), five Brandon Hall ‘Excellence in Technology’ awards including Gold for ‘Best Advance in AI for Business Impact,’ Business Intelligence Group’s Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards (3 consecutive years), and a regional Timmy Award for launching and optimizing HelpOneBillion.com (2020).
In response to the growing threat of ransomware attacks against schools around the world, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced it will provide in-kind grants valued at $5 million to help address cybersecurity resiliency in schools. The deadline to apply is June 23, 2023.
Since its creation in 2021, the IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants program has expanded globally, and this year will also include enhanced offerings from IBM SkillsBuild on topics including AI and cybersecurity.
Ransomware is unfolding faster than ever, with attackers managing to cut down the time required to deploy ransomware attacks from over two months to just under four days between 2019 and 2021, according to IBM’s X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2023. In fact, the share of cybersecurity incidents observed in the education sector more than doubled in 2022 compared to the year prior, experiencing the largest increase year over year than any other industry.
“Time and time again attackers go after the education sector, yet many of these institutions remain constrained in their security resources,” said Andy Piazza, Global Head of Threat Intelligence, IBM Security X-Force. “To date, this program has helped more than 350,000 students across schools in the US and abroad, with IBM Service Corps helping them recover from ransomware attacks, strengthen their security posture against future attacks, and prevent further disruption.”
Applications for schools are now open globally. Grants valued at $500,000 each ($5 million in total) will be awarded to six school districts in the US with an additional four around the world. Volunteers, through IBM Service Corps, will use their professional skills to help schools establish programs to address cybersecurity resiliency. Hear more from Andy here.
Each selected school will receive:
“The global skills gap across cybersecurity and AI is a growing challenge that demands immediate attention,” said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM Chief Impact Officer. “To address this challenge, IBM awards Education Security Preparedness Grants to drive impact with schools worldwide. This year, we’re excited to expand the program to bring the benefits of IBM SkillsBuild training on topics like AI and cybersecurity for students and teachers.”
Robert Losinski, Manager of Information Security at Denver Public Schools, stated that “With IBM’s assistance, we improved our cybersecurity incident response plan and used it to better prepare us for handling incidents in the future.” He continued , “Attackers are targeting schools because many do not have mature security frameworks to effectively defend against ransomware and other cybercrime. Getting professional assistance in expanding your cybersecurity program will really help you identify the most critical areas to protect.”
Since its inception in 2021, IBM has received hundreds of applications for this award-winning program from school districts seeking to strengthen their security postures in response to the growing threats in the education space. Past recipients of the IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants have encouraged other schools to apply.
The 2022 and 2021 Grantees included:
Awards were allocated based on cybersecurity needs, experiences, community resources, and potential risks.
K-12 public schools and educational institutions/organizations that are interested in applying for IBM’s education cybersecurity grant can apply via IBM.com here: https://www.ibm.com/impact/initiatives/security.
For more information about IBM’s cybersecurity grants for schools, visit: https://www.ibm.com/impact/initiatives/security.
For more information about IBM Security X-Force’s services and capabilities, visit: https://www.ibm.com/security/xforce.
The 2023 grant cycle is now open. Apply by June 23, 2023 to receive one of ten available grants.
For the second year in a row, South Florida will once again welcome the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp for high schoolers to our region in the Fall. BUT, this year will be even better!
South Florida Tech Hub was able to connect the Mark Cuban Foundation with the wonderful folks at Florida Power & Light and with offices in both Palm Beach and Miami, FPL immediately saw potential to bring this program to the entire region. Having a great relationship with Miami Dade College, FPL reached out to the MDC team who quickly hopped on board to be the first Miami location. The program launched in October 2022 in both Miami and Palm Beach counties.
We are proud to announce that this year, not two, but four Tech Hub member organizations have committed to bringing this program to South Florida ensuring that students all across all three counties (Miami, Broward and Palm Beach) can apply!
The AI Bootcamp will be targeted at underserved high school students (9th -12th grade) especially those from underrepresented groups and will introduce these high school students to basic AI concepts and skills.
“The future global competitiveness of our country depends on having as many AI literate people as possible. I think there is an untapped wealth of knowledge and innovation in underserved communities,” stated Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and founder, Mark Cuban Foundation.
The Bootcamp sessions will be held over four consecutive Saturdays starting on Oct. 14 and ending on Nov. 4. The bootcamp will run each Saturday from 2-6 PM and if accepted, high school students must commit to attending all four sessions. Aimed to increase AI literacy and understanding in students from underserved communities, the high schools students don’t need any prior experience with computer science, programming, or robotics to apply and attend. Students interested should apply by Friday, Sept. 8. (Apply at bottom of article.)
With AI being a relevant topic on many news sources, students will learn what artificial intelligence is and is not, where they already interact with AI in their own lives, and the ethical implications of AI systems—including but not limited to TikTok recommendations, smart home assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars, to name a few. Participants will also learn how Large Language Models like ChatGPT are changing life as we know it by answering questions, telling original stories, and even writing computer code.
Students will benefit from volunteer corporate mentor instructors who are knowledgeable about AI, ML and data science and able to help students quickly understand material normally taught at a collegiate level. As part of the 4-hour curriculum, students will work with open source tools each day to build their own AI applications related to Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Generative AI.
In 2022, Grace Kurian, Executive Director of Information Technology-Nuclear at NextEra Energy Inc, led the launch of the AI Bootcamp in Palm Beach County. She told South Florida Tech Hub that months of planning, hundreds of hours, and over 22 volunteers brought the program to life. From entry-level developers to tech executives such as Grace and Michael Fowler, VP of IT and Business Unit CIO at FPL the students got to interact with tech professionals of all levels.
In it’s fifth year, the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp is still a fairly new initiative that was founded in 2019 by the Mark Cuban Foundation. With just about 30 locations across the entire United States chosen for this program, we are so proud to have three of them right here in our backyard. The Mark Cuban Foundation has impacted 900+ students to date and has a goal to increase that number year over year.
“FPL is pleased to be the host company for Mark Cuban’s AI Boot Camp (Palm Beach) for the second consecutive year. As a company, we believe success begins with people, and this program helps introduce STEM and computer science to students that grew up with limited technology exposure,” said Jason Price, Agile Leader – EP Technologies & Innovation @ NextEra Energy Inc. (FPL parent company). “We are excited to help inspire bright young talent right in our backyard about how technology can elevate the world around them.”
Normally taught at the collegiate level, students had the opportunity to interact in hands-on workshops about chatbots, AI, Machine learning and Natural Language processing – topics many had never encountered before.
FPL is excited to welcome this year’s students into the new PGA Office Center.
“Office Depot is excited to support such a wonderful program this year. Exposing our students and future talent to new technologies will help the talent pool down the road by sparking their interest in AI and showcasing how it’s being used in the real world,” said Andy Parry, VP of Application Development & Support at Office Depot.
Being able to add Broward county to the programming this year and support students in the underserved community fits right in line with Office Depot’s giving efforts.
Office Depot will be sponsoring the Broward bootcamp and partnering with Nova Southeastern University’s Levan Center of Innovation as the host venue.
“We believe that this program will help to cultivate the next generation of AI leaders, who will shape the future of technology and create a more equitable world,” said John Wensveen, Ph.D., NSU’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Levan Center of Innovation.
“Miami Dade College‘s Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp was a huge success. After only 4 weeks the high school students that attended created impressive projects around AI in Music, AI in Healthcare and AI in Safety and Security,” wrote Antonio Delgado, VP of Innovation and Technology Partnerships at Miami Dade College, in a social media post.
“Kudos to everyone involved to bring this opportunity for free to Miami students. They represent a diversity that it’s not widely seen in tech companies today. They are the next generation that will be creating meaningful AI products and applications.”
Antonio told South Florida Tech Hub that this year Miami-Dade College will be sponsoring the Miami bootcamp and hosting two camps in Miami, one at each of their AI Centers (North Campus and Downtown Wolfson) allowing them to impact even more student within the county.
The Mark Cuban Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit led by Dallas Mavericks proprietor Mark Cuban. The AI Bootcamps Program at MCF seeks to inspire young people with emerging technology so that they can create more equitable futures for themselves and their communities. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the Bootcamp’s curriculum materials, trains corporate volunteer mentors, and recruits and scores applications for local student selected to attend camp. In addition, the corporate sponsors, work to provide food, transportation, and access to laptops for students at no cost throughout the duration of Bootcamp.
Over the course of the four four-hour-long sessions, students will:
The AI Bootcamp is open to students who:
Application deadline: Friday, September 8, 2023. For answers to some of your questions, please visit markcubanai.org/faq
Just this past weekend, NextEra Energy Resources completed the 4-week AI Bootcamp in collaboration with the Mark Cuban Foundation.
There were only 30 locations across the entire United States chosen for this program and two were approved here in South Florida: one in Miami and one in Palm Beach County. Although a fairly new initiative founded in 2019 by the Mark Cuban Foundation, the program attracted over 600 high school students in 9th – 12th grades.
There were over 20 high school students in attendance for the Palm Beach County program. Florida Power and Light sponsored and hosted the program at no cost to students. The classes were held in the beautiful FPL Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach which is an FPL Eco-Discovery Center.
Grace Kurian (pictured above on right) , Executive Director of Information Technology-Nuclear at NextEra Energy Inc, previously stated that “FPL is proud to serve as the host company for Mark Cuban’s AI Boot Camp for students who would otherwise not have exposure to programs in STEM. Our corporate culture is focused on giving back to the communities where we live and work. We are intentional about supporting and building thriving communities for the next generation.”
The program spanned 4 Saturdays from October 22nd to November 12th, but took months of planning, 22 volunteers and over 100+ volunteer hours to make this bootcamp come to life. Volunteers ranged from entry-level developers to the VP of IT and Business Unit CIO at FPL, Michael Fowler.
Normally taught at the collegiate level, students had the opportunity to interact in hands-on workshops about chatbots, AI, Machine learning and Natural Language processing – topics many had never encountered before.
Aimed to increase AI literacy and understanding in students from underserved communities, the high schools students didn’t need any prior experience with computer science, programming, or robotics to apply and attend.
Students completed a final project and made a presentation to the entire class. This not only helped them showcase their newly found technical skills, but the ability to present, communicate and practice public speaking skills.
At the close of the bootcamp, one students gave a thank you card with a kind message to his volunteer instructor: “Thank you for helping me with this bootcamp. I appreciate all your time and efforts into organizing this camp. I really learned a lot these past 4 weeks. Thank you!”
