The AI4Impact Lab's goal is to build, deploy, and evaluate human-centered AI systems in the real world that make social impact by improving people's lives. We do this through research and entrepreneurship. Additionally, we educate students by providing foundational AI skills and mentoring them to develop AI systems that drive impact. The current focus is on the following themes in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).
Focus Areas & Themes
News & Updates
July 2026: Our paper "Development, Deployment, and Evaluation of DyMand: Wearable AI for In-Situ Detection and Capture of Couples’ Dyadic Interactions in Chronic Disease Management" has been published in ACM HEALTH in the Special Issue on Human Centered Computing in Healthcare.
July 2026: Dr. George Jojo Boateng has been selected as the 2026 ETH Social Impact Pioneer Fellow. He will work on Lex Pro Se, a WhatsApp-based AI agent to provide affordable, legal services to individuals and SMEs in LMICs.
July 2026: Dr. George Jojo Boateng attended the 2026 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2026) happening in Seoul, South Korea, where he presented 4 papers from our lab, and spoke on a panel at the Unplugged Workshop centered around building AIED for low-resource settings.
June 2026: Dr. George Jojo Boateng returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth College, for the 70th anniversary celebration of the birth of AI on Dartmouth's campus. He was a judge for DALI Lab's TechniGala, Dartmouth’s termly showcase of student-built technology, with this term’s focus on AI-driven projects. He also spoke on a panel on careers in AI the undergrads exploring careers in the field.
June 2026: Our #AI4Impact course is now live and available for enrollment for the Fall 2026 semester.
May 2026: Our work from the DyMand project, developing a wearable AI system for emotion recognition among couples managing Type 2 diabetes in daily life, has been published in Sensors, in the Special Issue on Emotion Recognition Based on Sensors (3rd Edition).
April 2026: Four papers on our work developing, deploying, and evaluating AI systems for science, computing, and legal education in Africa have been accepted for publication and presentation at the 2026 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2026) happening in Seoul, South Korea, in June 2026.
January 2026: Dr. George Jojo Boateng attended AMLD Africa, one of the largest AI conferences in Africa, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He spoke on leveraging AI for education and legal service delivery in Africa.
October 2025: Dr. George Jojo Boateng gave a guest lecture on “AI for Education” for ETH Zurich’s CAS course on AI for Global Development.
June 2025: Dr. George Jojo Boateng attended the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2025) in Barcelona as both a patient and researcher.
July 2025: We set up a collaboration with Oura to use Oura rings in our SNF-funded rheumatoid arthritis study.
May 2025: Dr. George Jojo Boateng gave a talk on leveraging AI for social impact in Africa at the 2026 Africa Summit at the University of St Gallen.
May 2025: Our paper analyzing data from our smartphone-based coding course for Africans was accepted for publication at ACM Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS 2025).
April 2025: We received a cost-neutral extension for our SNF-funded rheumatoid arthritis study.
January 2025: Dr. George Jojo Boateng was promoted to Established/Senior Researcher (Oberassistant) at ETH Zurich.
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