Use Case – AI in the social sector

As you may have gathered from the first blog post, "Volunteering and its parallels in everyday IT", by Johannes Bayerl and myself, the social sector is very close to my heart. By chance, the Italian adesso Stefano Mainetti came across our post and shared it on his LinkedIn network. In doing so, he also referred to an interesting adesso project from Italy.

The fact that sharing the post led to a great deal of feedback within the Italian adesso community encouraged me to write more blog posts. It's a great feeling to work in a company that shares important social values across borders.

AI training for volunteers and full-time employees

Before I joined adesso, I was invited to give a talk on the opportunities and risks of AI in children's and youth work at the Neumarkt District Youth Council in March 2023. I would like to share some practical examples from this talk.

I didn't start my talk with a classic PowerPoint presentation. I used the method of practical examples, which is so popular in the social sector:

I asked ChatGPT what a lecture with the following parameters might look like:

Target group: full-time and volunteer educators with varying levels of IT affinity
Topic: AI in child and youth work
Time: 120 minutes

Create an agenda with a time schedule.

Then I demonstrated the entire process, including the live response.

At this point, the participants had very different levels of knowledge about AI in practical applications. Some of them were full-time, some were volunteers in the social sector and came from different institutions.

The lecture itself was not a lecture in the traditional sense. After a brief introduction to ChatGPT, we moved on to practical examples and an intensive exchange of ideas.

Some youth leaders also like to use various AI models to generate music for public events, thus reducing the costs for music collecting societies. However, some participants were particularly impressed by

the creation of timetables in the educational sector

• the automated evaluation of lists and tables
• optimising one's own learning behaviour, e.g. through the interview mode
• quick access to new topics through summaries
• summarising longer texts
• support in searching for sources

What has happened since then?

I am still in touch with some of the participants after the training. Since 2023, a lot has happened in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Shortly after the introduction of GPT-4 and Bing Search with Copilot, some of the participants from the training now prefer these over the GPT Engine 3.5. This allows them to use the

use image generation for logos and presentations

• bypass the restrictions of GPT 3.5 until September 2021 thanks to GPT-4 and an internet connection
• generate Office documents directly
• enter and receive texts twice as long

Cross-industry collaboration at adesso

Since I joined adesso, I have been able to live out my passion for test automation even more intensively. The use of AI models is also increasing rapidly in this area, whether it be in test data generation or test extension and consistency checking. It is also important here that data protection is always guaranteed.

The "one adesso" approach has given me valuable insights into other business lines (BL). One adesso is a holistic corporate approach that aims to think together and share good values. This is reflected in the emphasis on a collegial, respectful and collaborative environment characterised by open exchange of experiences and mutual support. I find the interdisciplinary collaboration particularly impressive. For example, there are projects with colleagues from the public and Microsoft sectors that provide comprehensive support in implementing AI in the social sector. This is done through process optimisation, training and the development and introduction of standard and customised software.

The co-pilots for Microsoft Office, MS Teams and Azure are proving to be extremely helpful and are making a significant contribution to simplifying administration. During my training, the topic of data protection was also dealt with intensively and a lot has happened since then. adesso is now focusing heavily on the GDPR-compliant European AI Aleph Alpha. At the last developer conference WWDC, Apple also showed that, in addition to cloud AI, they also want to provide more support for local AI applications.

As an AI expert, it is essential to keep up to date, because developments in this area are progressing rapidly. Payment models, scope of services, transparency, data protection, scalability and speed are just some of the parameters that can change daily. In addition, there are constantly new competitors, both established AI companies and innovative start-ups.

To meet these challenges, adesso is focusing on the "Hi, GenAI" campaign, expanding its internal training programme and prioritising its internal technology radar. These measures are paving the way for a successful future and ensuring that we always stay at the cutting edge.

Through this continuous development and commitment to interdisciplinary projects, adesso can further expand its leading role in the field of AI applications. This not only strengthens our competitiveness, but also offers our customers innovative solutions that support them in their daily work.

Supporting employees as an employer

Many studies, such as the Vodafone Foundation's "Pioneers of Change" and experts, agree: generic AI models are a major game changer and it is very important to address this issue. Especially in youth work, it makes sense to be able to communicate with children and young people on the same level. Because they already use it very intensively to some extent.

As an employer in the social sector, you can also relieve the burden on your volunteers and full-time employees by using enterprise offerings in your administrative offerings.

One thing I learnt in my training has been confirmed time and again: most teachers want to concentrate on their teaching work and not on time-consuming administrative tasks. At the same time, it is important to be on the safe side in terms of data protection. We can support you here with many proven approaches from practice.

Find out more about the exciting possibilities that AI offers in administration. Visit our AI landing page and be inspired by how your organisation can benefit from the latest technologies.

Would you like to find out more about exciting topics from the world of adesso? Then take a look at our previous blog posts.