Lunch & Learn: AI tool to...
The event provided an exciting opportunity for students to experience firsthand how this innovative tool, designed by jobseekers f...
Students compete at AI challenge
Taking part in a three-day AI focused competition proved to be a rewarding experience for a team of students from Future Skills.
The event which ran from 9-11 October at Unitec in Auckland gave attendees the opportunity to collaborate with industry experts and professionals, leveraging advanced AWS Generative AI tools to develop innovative solutions with a sustainable impact on New Zealand industries.
The GenAI Hackathon: Sustainable Impact event attracted over 100 participants and comprised a half-day AWS training session, followed by topic identification and solution development. On the final day, each team had 10 minutes to present their solutions.
Future Skills Head of Department - Information Technology, Dr Farhad Mehdipour, says the team Future Skills gave it their all at the Hackathon, showing incredible dedication and enthusiasm.
Swaminathan Subramanian who led the Future Skills team and delivered the presentation says the competition was intense.
“Participating in a hackathon was scary and thrilling at the same time. Networking with industry peers and other members of the hackathon also paved the way for establishing a number of new connections.”
The team of five students are all studying a Handling and Interpreting Data for Decision Making course at Future Skills.
Their GenAI solution was a diabetes management web app that could generate tailored recipes and images for individual users, as well as provide personalized exercise suggestions. Compared to existing one-size-fits-all solutions, a GenAI approach offers users a more personalised interface and is likely to result in higher engagement.
Future Skills Tutor Lucy Long says all teams were granted free access to AWS' servers for 72 hours.
“Since the competition lasts for three days (or 60 hours), it is often referred to as a hackathon due to its intensity and duration.”
Lucy says feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive.
“Not only did they gain valuable experience with state-of-the-art GenAI technology they also developed vital teamwork skills and conflict resolution and expanded their professional networks within the industry.”
The students who made up the team were Swaminathan Subramanian, Mohan Samuel, Zhen Xu (Tony), Ping Wu (Alice) and Ishrat Un Nisa.
Ishrat says the event highlighted the importance of seeking advice and guidance from mentors with diverse expertise and backgrounds. For Tony, a key highlight was learning how to handle conflict when team members had differing opinions or ideas.
All participants received an attendance certificate for their efforts.
Aside from putting forward a team of competitors, Future Skills was also a key sponsor of the event.
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Left to right: The Future Skills team who competed at the recent AI challenge were Mohan Samuel, Ping Wu (Alice), Min Long (Lucy), Israt Un Nisa, Swaminathan Subramanian and Zhen Xu (Tony).
