Deloitte makes new AI platform available to Scope free of charge
Melanie May | 12 January 2024 | News
Deloitte is providing free access and support for its new Generative AI platform to Scope, it has announced.
Developed by Deloitte’s AI Institute, PairD is an internal Generative AI platform designed to help people with day-to-day tasks, including drafting content, writing code and carrying out research safely and securely. It is also able to create project plans, give project management best practice advice and suggest task prioritisation.
The platform has been rolled out to 75,000 of Deloitte’s people across Europe and the Middle East, and Scope’s 800 employees will start to have access in the new year. The initiative will include teach-ins and ongoing support from Deloitte, with a particular focus on understanding the barriers for those who are not digitally native and have disabilities. Deloitte says this is the first step in its ambitions to help make access to AI more inclusive, and it plans to take learnings from the work with Scope and help other charities in a similar way.
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Richard Houston, CEO of Deloitte UK and Deloitte NSE, said:
“Generative AI should be available and accessible to everyone and businesses like ours must ensure that the adoption of AI promotes social equality rather than exacerbating existing disparities.
“But it’s not only about access to technology – it’s access to the skills to use it that will really create opportunity to help close the digital divide.
“We want to increase the accessibility of our AI platform and help Scope make full use of PairD to benefit the charity and the people they support.”
Mark Hodgkinson, CEO of Scope, said:
“Nearly one in four people in the UK are disabled, and we have to work together to build a society which is more inclusive and fair for all. Disabled people are often an afterthought in technological advancements, which is why we are pleased to be working with Deloitte to remove these barriers. It’s important that technology is used as a force for good for everyone and we know AI can be a great enabler for disabled people.”
More digital support from Deloitte
Since January 2021, Deloitte has also donated over 12,000 laptops to schools, charities and refugee groups to help tackle the digital skills gap and support people to overcome barriers to education and employment.
Deloitte has also recently opened applications and welcomed 30 charities and social enterprises to join the third cohort of Deloitte Digital Connect, which helps charities scale their digital impact.
PairD, which is being rolled out to Deloitte’s people in the UK as well parts of Europe and the Middle East, is part of Deloitte’s broader investment in analytics and AI. The firm also recently launched the Global Generative AI Market Incubator, in conjunction with Deloitte’s AI Institute, delivering early-stage proofs of concept and rapid prototypes in Generative AI.
Costi Perricos, Generative AI leader at Deloitte, said:
“Our Generative AI platform is part of long-term AI investment plans, as we continue to explore the potential that this technology could offer our firm, our clients and wider society.
“A key focus for employers should be on how to use these new tools safely, so that they can be applied correctly and create value.
“As part of our mission to make access to AI more inclusive, we would like to work with Scope to explore how this can benefit underrepresented groups in our society, such as people with physical or mental disabilities.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.