June 2023 | 7 COMMUNITY
HOW HOUSTON’S GENESYS WORKS IS EQUIPPING STUDENTS FOR THE AI TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION
According to Jones, Genesis Works Houston’s program has been solely focused on high school students, particularly seniors. Jones said,
By d-mars.com News Provider
n early May, Vice President Kamala Harris met with chief executives of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic to discuss the responsible development of artificial intelligence, the White House confirmed to CNBC. During the discussion, Harris addressed the need for safeguards that can mitigate AI’s potential risks and emphasized the importance of ethical and trustworthy innovation. The meeting’s overall objective was a part of Biden’s administration to ensure safety protocols prior to being deployed to the public. Genesys Works Houston is doing their part to keep students safe from the pitfalls of AI while also educating them on how to be more innovative in the workforce. The company was established in 2002 and prides itself on professional training skills for youth. In addition to GWH’s corporate partnerships, the organization uses those relationships to help students transition smoothly in the workforce.
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Senior Manager Jarale Jones and alumna Ke’Anna Lawson broke down their IT Pre-Apprenticeship Program that offers entry-level technical skills and certifications to prepare students for positions in the IT and AI field.
Recently, we’ve been able to introduce a new program called the IT Pre-Apprenticeship Program, or the Career Accelerator, which focuses on a different population. Entry level can be misconstrued depending on who you talk to. However, the senior manager detailed that entry level has much more meaning. “Once the [students] obtain their credential it’s just kind of starting their career, but they’re able to complement and supplement college education if they wanted to.”
Students are then able to climb up a ladder using educational tools such as joining organizations related to their interests and utilize any college degree regardless of level to supplement career aspirations. With AI being a hot topic in the news, trends that are used are imperative to understand. When learning trends during formative years, internships are needed to learn those trends. Unfortunately, not all practicums are created equal. A study in 2019 concluded that nearly 40 percent of students lacked value for their internships citing “poor training” and “not feeling confident” leading up to interviewing for careers. Lawson, who started off as an intern, provided a more hopeful stance on her experience with the organization. “I ended up doing a yearlong internship. So, in a span
of a year, I went from hating it or anything tech related to being a computer science major,” she said. “I’m now doing an AI development internship to speak to people’s experience with internships. However, I think everyone’s going to be different. For me I personally think I like that I have an organization behind me that supports me that wants me to succeed.” With AI being on the verge of revolutionizing the workforce, technology has not been without its downfalls and risks. From innocent people being arrested based on voice recognition to record labels fighting back after artists voices have been artificially dubbed over tracks. Lawson says the organization has awareness of the issue and as they study to learn more about those discrepancies, “Of course, you’re going to have people who want to experiment, see what happens. Some people take it too far, but I think that’s going to be with anything,” she described. “You always have your extremist. And I think the best we could do is just give information what’s right, what’s wrong in terms of how to use AI, make sure that people know to be mindful of what you’re doing and its impact.” To stay ahead of the game, Jones admitted that the organization works with contract-for-hire individuals for educational value. “We contract people that are in the industry to be able to look at our curriculum and tell us these are the things that we need to be working on. Specifically, when you talk about the technical skills,” he explained. “But one of the things that we really shine at is our professional skills training.” He added, “We do have some trainees that complete our training and not only get internships but go on to be full time employees at some of these organizations that we work with.” Overall, the IT Pre-Apprenticeship aims to give direct opportunities for hire at partner organizations. Prospective students can apply through GenesysWorks. org. Applications will be accepted until the end of May for the summer training session. Need more? Check the company out on Instagram @genesyswors_Houston
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Source: GenesysWorks.org
