A Black-owned tech company recently announced that they had raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding to build a new alternative system to ChatGPT.
First reported by Tech Crunch, Toronto-based artificial intelligence company Tech Spark AI received funds from the Investment Readiness Program by the Foundation for Black Communities and TD Bank.
Created by founder Tamar Huggins and her 13-year-old daughter, Talia Grant, the company’s product currently allows students to translate classic literature into modern dialect, specifically modern-day AAVE. To create the language for the current web-based application, Huggins combined language used by her daughter as well as the language used by Harlem Renaissance writers and civil rights activists as the model.
????????????Female-led Canadian startup Tech Spark AI snaps $1.4M for ChatGPT rival. https://t.co/9gFevc3qwV @techsparkcanada @TD_Canada @salesforce #AI #Canada #femaleLed #funding #news #Startups
— Tech Funding News (@TFNBreakingNews) November 16, 2023
The new Sparks Plug also features a section known as LearningDNA which is a tool that’s aimed at helping teachers understand the best way their students learn. If a student retains information through listening, the product will convey the idea to them through a melody, for example.
“Historically, Black people haven’t always felt like they belonged, and as a result, we’ve had to create our own spaces. Technology is no different,” said Huggins per Tech Crunch. “As long as we are including the voices of those systematically left out of the conversation, AI can take us in the right direction.”
The alternative to ChatGTP is part of the company’s broader initiative to improve the curricula for Black and Brown students across North America.
Currently, underrepresentation for BIPOC community studies continues to be an issue as curricula remain largely Eurocentric.
Although AP African American studies have been implemented in several schools, select states have been actively working to bar its teachings in the classroom.
In January, the Republican-led state of Florida banned the course from being taught altogether. Arkansas leaders also ruled that the class would not count as part of graduation credit, claiming the pilot doesn’t satisfy the state’s requirements.
College Board, the nonprofit that created the course, became embroiled in controversy themselves as they were accused of folding to political pressure and removing topics that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized.
Despite the changes and the Republicans’ denial of teaching history, the AP course is expected to expand with the College Board aiming to have it available to students in all schools for the 2024-2025 school year.
