How can AI help solve some of Milwaukee's biggest issues? This group came up with answers.

The problems are formidable. But the task was intended to simplify solving them:

Use AI — artificial intelligence — to find a solution to some of the most pressing issues affecting Milwaukee communities.

About 20 people sat at desks, huddled over papers and laptops, with some feverishly tapping away with their thumbs on cell phones, using AI to address issues like food scarcity, nonprofit funding sustainability and even increase kinship among residents in hyper-segregated communities.

The challenge was part of the Hack for Hope hackathon — one of many sessions held during Wednesday's Equity in Tech Summit at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

It was the flagship event in a series of activities held throughout October as part of Wisconsin Tech Month , which spotlights innovations and creativity in the state's tech industry.

Hack for Hope brought community stakeholders and technologists together. Using AI technology like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude by Anthropic , the participants — broken into four teams — designed websites, mobile apps or even something as simple as a business plan to address these issues.

The goal was to help people overcome their fears about AI while showing its potential, said Nadiyah Johnson, founder of Milky Way Tech Hub , an organization with a mission to create an ecosystem to support people of color in the tech space.

"I think one way to increase adoption of any innovative technology is to help people see how useful it could be in their day-to-day lives and within their communities," Johnson said.

To address food scarcity, one team created a website where restaurants would sign up to donate leftover food and then trucks would deliver the food to distribution centers in areas of need.

"What's interesting about this event is that leveraging artificial intelligence, participants are learning how quickly we can ideate and prototype to solution for some of the largest problems plaguing our city," Johnson said.

The event also served as a teaching tool to use AI. The teams learned how to "prompt" for artificial intelligence by adding context and asking certain questions to get the best output. The teams can protoyype or visualize the solutions by creating a workflow diagram, a clickable demo, a form or templates or webpages using HTLM or CSS.

AI, she noted, helps accelerate the prototyping process.

"What can take weeks or longer can happen in a hackathon like this," Johnson said.

Still, she said she understands that fear exists around AI, but she hopes hackathons like this help people see the potential in this rapidly growing technology. Even for large social ills like racism, poverty or inequities in marginalized communities, Johnson said AI could even lead to concrete ideas not thought of before.

"It's time to embrace it, its power and its ability to address some of these critical issues," she said. "It does have incredible potential to help us ideate, to solve problems that would take a long time to address."

Brian Mckee, pastor of City of Light Church, gave the hackathon its biggest task. He wanted to see if AI could solve challenges related to the inequity that leaves communities segregated.

The group tasked with his challenge created a web platform that lists societal concerns and how people can connect to address them.

"They did a very good job building a draft tool that could help to begin to address inequities in a hyper-segregated region in the United States," said Mckee, who works in cybersecurity.

His church partnered with Milky Way Tech Hub to sponsor the hackathon.

For the last few years, his church has brought people together to understand root causes plaguing communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Mckee believes AI could be a tool to tackle complex issues like poverty and segregation. He's already seen the power of technology to galvanize people around a cause. In 2020, Mckee's church partnered with Milky Way Tech Hub to design a tool that brought city and suburban residents together to advocate for banning police chokeholds.

It stemmed, he said, from the death of George Floyd and the uprising that followed during the pandemic. That effort, he said, along with others led to Gov. Tony Evers signing a bill that bans police chokeholds in the state .

"We were able to use … that technology to make a difference that way," Mckee said.

Jasmine Johnikin, founder of As I Am Mentoring Inc. in Milwaukee, said she was skeptical about how AI could help her 2-year-old nonprofit. Now, she's a believer.

Her nonprofit mentors high school students, helping them find their purpose through character-building and experiences to help them navigate life.

Johnikin told the participants she wants to grow her nonprofit but is challenged by funding, recruitment and retention issues. The team that tackled her challenge used AI to create several webpages to allow donors to choose causes to support and links to make financial contributions. The group also created a recruitment webpage, listing the nonprofit's hiring needs.

"At first, I just thought about the negative (of AI), but you have to be open-minded," Johnikin said.

Johnikin, who admits she's not tech-savvy, wants to know how to better use AI to help her nonprofit.

"Even though there are some fears, there are some positive aspects to this technology," she said. "We can use it for our advantage. We shouldn't shy away from it. It is here and it is not going anywhere. So, we've got to adjust."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee hackathon tries to use AI to help solve some major issues