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Development Impact Group

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Overview

Development Impact Group Artificial Intelligence is pioneering the next frontier of impact evaluation, leveraging AI and machine learning to develop and implement research, interventions, and tools that address pressing global challenges. Operating with a commitment to maintaining the highest ethical standards and rigor, particularly considering vulnerable communities, Development Impact Group AI¡¯s work has uncovered new, evidence-based approaches to predict food insecurity, mitigate hate speech and misinformation, advance conflict early warning systems, and address gender biases. Driving the next generation of impact evaluation, Development Impact Group AI¡¯s latest solution extracts causal evidence from vast repositories of impact evaluation and economic research to empower decision-makers with personalized insights and transform data-driven policymaking. As AI continues to evolve, Development Impact Group AI's multidisciplinary efforts underscore its integral role in leveraging cutting-edge technology to advance social progress and sustainable development worldwide.

Partnerships

Advanced AI technology can help development practitioners, researchers, and policymakers enhance productivity, foster creativity, generate new insights, and effectively support communities. Development Impact Group AI collaborates with Google.org, Google¡¯s philanthropic initiative, via to ensure the World Bank harnesses AI¡¯s potential to address key social and economic challenges by developing high-impact applications, empowering policymakers with AI-driven solutions, and streamlining development research.

Supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Development Impact Group is expanding its research and policy engagement in the media markets of India, Kenya, and Nigeria. This includes comprehensive content analyses of media consumed by Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW), development of monitoring tools, and impact evaluation research on media's influence on social norms and behaviors. Leveraging machine learning, the Development Impact group aims to automate content analysis and monitoring tools for broader accessibility. The Development Impact Group will also conduct policy dialogues to maximize the impact of this work in major entertainment hubs.

Development Impact group AI¡¯s most recent initiatives focus on the following:

Food insecurity continues to threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of undernourished increased from ~580 million in 2012 to ~730 million in 2022 (). Climate change, population growth, political instability, and economic disparities exacerbate this problem, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities in developing countries. Predicting these crises is crucial but hindered by incomplete or outdated data sources. By employing natural language processing techniques on news articles, Development Impact group AI pinpoints early signs of food crises, enhancing forecasts by up to 50% 12 months in advance. This provides extra time for proactive measures to be taken. Real-time news integration aids decision-making in data-scarce environments, improving humanitarian responses and saving lives. Future efforts include incorporating local languages to improve predictive accuracy and expand to conflict predictions.

View Publications

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View Presentations

  • Picture of Sam Fraiberger

    Explore how our team is advancing artificial intelligence solutions across multiple domains to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet.

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    ImpactAI: Product Showcase

    See how ImpactAI helps decision-makers quickly access reliable, research-backed insights to tackle global challenges, from improving health outcomes to advancing sustainable development.

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    Our team is developing context-specific AI models to measure and combat harmful content online. By collaborating with influencers and policymakers, we¡¯re creating interventions to make the digital world safer.

  • Picture of Karim Lasri

    Learn how ImpactAI is making it easier for development practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to access development research and drive decision-making and impact.

  • Picture of Sam Fraibergerin in an interview

    This deeper dive into ImpactAI highlights the tool's potential to break down complex, peer-reviewed research into actionable insights for policymakers and development practitioners¡ªall while ensuring the safety and ...

  • Picture of Karim Lasri

    ImpactAI Co-Lead, Karim Lasri, explains how the tool uses advanced AI systems to find relevant, evidence-based insights that enable faster and more informed policy design decisions.

  • How can we leverage AI in the development community?

    Development Impact Group AI Program Lead, Sam Fraiberger, explains how artificial intelligence can be leveraged within the development community.

Core Team

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    Data Scientist and AI Program Lead, Development Impact Group
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    Luis Eduardo San Martin
    Junior Data Scientist, Development Impact Group
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    Madeline Bassetti
    Consultant, UX Designer, Development Impact Group
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    Karim Lasri
    Consultant, ImpactAI Co-Lead, Development Impact Group
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    Linxi Wang
    Consultant, Data Coordinator, Development Impact Group
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    Philipp Zimmer
    Consultant, Data Scientist and Policy Analyst, Development Impact Group