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UMW’s Center for AI and the Liberal Arts Co-Hosted Hack for Humanity Event

UMW’s Center for AI and the Liberal Arts (CAILA) co-hosted Hack for Humanity: Fredericksburg in the Hurley Convergence Center Digital Auditorium on Saturday, Oct. 24. The free, daylong event was hosted and run by Fabio Garcia, founder of the Fredericksburg chapter of the AI Collective, and was one of the local chapters of The AI Collective’s global Hack for Humanity this fall.

Five teams of students, professionals, and community members spent six hours building working demos that address real problems submitted by area organizations, including the City of Fredericksburg, the Town of Quantico, Sunshine Ballpark, and the Fredericksburg Free Press. Mentors supported the teams throughout the day, and a panel of judges reviewed every project before announcing the winner at the close.

The winning project, Vouch FXBG, is an app for job seekers that lets other users vouch for specific skills the job seeker has demonstrated, giving local employers a community-verified picture of a candidate’s abilities. Winning teams may be featured in The AI Collective’s newsletter, which reaches more than 300,000 subscribers.

“The hackathon showed what AI looks like when it is pointed at a community’s actual needs,” said Anand Rao, professor of communication and digital studies and director of CAILA. “ In a single day, five teams took problems from local government, nonprofits, and a newsroom and turned them into working tools. That is the kind of experience our students need. Learning to use AI well means more than knowing the tools. It means understanding a problem, deciding whether AI belongs in the solution, and building something people can trust. CAILA exists to give students that preparation, and I am grateful to Fabio Garcia and the AI Collective for bringing this event to UMW.”

The event was sponsored by ElevenLabs. Coverage in the Fredericksburg Free Press on Saturday, Oct. 10 previewed the hack event and event materials remain available.

Learn more about UMW’s Center for AI and the Liberal Arts and its events.