SBIR Phase I: Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered platform for evaluating and developing cultural competence and diversity, equity and inclusion awareness

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响侧重于开发具有文化能力、类似人类、具有同理心的人工智能(AI)代理，用于幼儿园前(Pre-K)研究生院的教育背景。在最广泛的意义上，文化能力指的是一个组织或个人在与来自不同文化背景的人打交道时的能力和有效性。这项拟议的创新旨在为社会科学启发的人工智能代理创造一个新市场，让两所历史悠久的黑人学院或大学(HBCU)在软件开发中发挥重要作用。该项目对社会进步的影响至关重要，因为多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)培训是许多组织的高度战略优先事项，但往往不是工作环境的一部分。培训计划的成功可以带来更公平和包容的工作场所、教育环境和机构，最终为更公平和包容的社会做出贡献。该项目旨在提高用户对人工智能技术的满意度和信任度，通过在美国创造就业机会、年收入和出口来推动创新并产生可观的收入流。通过人类主导的干预来发展文化能力的传统途径可能会扰乱工作环境，在没有人的偏见的情况下很难衡量，并可能导致工作环境内部的不和谐。这个SBIR第一阶段项目旨在开发具有文化能力和同理心的人工智能(AI)代理，以编码和标记用户对复杂的多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)问题的主观反应，同时保持较高的社会可信度。通过使用以研究为基础的社会科学框架，该项目将开发无偏见和意识到Dei的人工智能代理，以评估和编纂组织利益攸关方的文化能力。主要目标包括获取大规模的人类生成的数据，以培训人工智能代理来识别用户对复杂的Dei观察的主观反应，并通过激动人心的小插曲或开放式调查问题进行提示。第一阶段旨在将概念验证转变为教育市场的可扩展平台，具有复杂的人工智能功能，导致更具包容性的工作场所和对20岁前幼儿园环境的更深入了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focusses on developing culturally-competent, humanlike,m and empathetic artificial intelligence (AI) agents for use within the pre-kindergarten (pre-K)-graduate school educational context. In the broadest sense, cultural competence refers to an organization's or individual's capacity and effectiveness in engaging with individuals from cultural backgrounds different from their own. The proposed innovation seeks to create a new market for social science-inspired AI agents, with significant roles for two Historically Black College or Universities (HBCUs) in the software development. The project’s impact on social advancement is crucial as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training is a high strategic priority for many organizations but often not part of the work environment. The success of the training program can lead to more equitable and inclusive workplaces, educational environments, and institutions, ultimately contributing to a more equitable and inclusive society. The project aims to increase user satisfaction and trust in AI technology, driving innovation and generating significant revenue streams by creating US jobs, annual revenue, and exports. The traditional routes for developing cultural competence through human-led interventions can disrupt the work environment, be difficult to measure without human bias, and may lead to discord within the work environment. This SBIR Phase I project aims to develop culturally competent and empathetic Artificial intelligence (AI) agents to codify and label users' subjective responses to complex diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues while maintaining high social trustworthiness. Through the use of research-based social science frameworks, the project will develop bias-free and DEI-aware AI agents to assess and codify cultural competence among organizational stakeholders. Key objectives include sourcing large scale human-generated data to train AI agents to identify users' subjective responses to complex DEI observations and prompting via evocative vignettes or open-ended survey questions. Phase I aims to transform a proof-of-concept into a scalable platform with sophisticated AI capabilities for the educational marketplace, leading to more inclusive workplaces and a deeper understanding of pre-Kindergarten-20 environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.