There is a huge opportunity to reach children who don't attend schools with AI. It is amazing to see kids having opportunities to learn more and faster in ways previously never imagined.”
- Simon Schoeman, AI Creative Solutions (MindStudio Partner)
AI Creative Solutions, a Zimbabwe-based AI agency and MindStudio implementation partner, works with government, private sector agencies, nonprofits, and banks to build AI automations and applications, including automated training modules, education tools, and scenario or building plan modeling.
AI has only recently become available in Zimbabwe after 20 years of sanctions. There is an urgent need for training and business applications to get individuals and companies up to speed. AI Creative Solutions founder Simon Schoeman has observed enterprises using ChatGPT without saving prompts or using custom data sources. They’re unaware that there are more advanced tools to automate entire processes.
In addition, less educated populations may not even know where to start with AI. They need internet access and basic training to be able to participate in digital innovation.
AI Creative Solutions sees AI as an uplifting tool that removes barriers to education, knowledge, and expertise. Schoeman has created a business around building custom AI applications on MindStudio, in addition to philanthropic work in underserved communities.
To test his hypothesis that AI can help close the opportunity gap, Schoeman took on a project with a local orphanage. Harare Children’s Home provides 60+ orphans with a home and education — and is one of the first educational institutions in Zimbabwe to adopt AI. Using MindStudio, Schoeman built a series of what he calls “AI Extra Lessons Applications,” which serves as an additional educational resource for the children to dive deeper into any topic using these functions:
“The Harare Children's Home Educational AI rollout went very well and it has been widely praised not only by the children and the board but also by the larger public,” Schoeman recounts. “It has been seen as a bold step in bridging a great divide between education and children who have little or no means to attend schools.”
The older children at Harare Children’s Home have been shown how to use the AI application and are now mentoring the younger children. One of the girls said it was nothing like what she had seen on the internet before.
Lessons and interactions can be in English, French, Shona, and Ndebele. MindStudio’s model agnosticism enables AI outputs in a variety of languages, which helps the children learn faster and retain more information.
One of the home administrators, Sibusiso Moyo, has observed positive outcomes so far: ‘’We have begun rotating the children on the application, and it is having a profound impact on them, from initially being amazed to wanting to dive deeper into the lessons.”
The next phase, planned for Fall 2024, will teach older children to build AI applications and gain career skills.
“What we are most excited about is a planned rollout of AI app-building lessons,” says Schoeman. “This will set them apart from other kids in a big way because when they leave the home, they will be armed with the ability to build applications wherever they work or study in the future.”
AI Creative Solutions observes that Zimbabwe is on track to experience an explosion of AI in the next six months as internet access expands rapidly. Starlink has recently been given an operating license in the country. As a result, AI Creative Solutions is planning similar application builds for rural areas that can now be reached. The agency has partnered with management consultancies in Zimbabwe to begin corporate training and AI implementation at the enterprise level to help fund these pro-bono AI projects.
This example of putting AI in the hands of underserved children demonstrates the powerful impact AI can have, anywhere in the world — especially when it’s packaged in a user-friendly MindStudio application.
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