The 2024 J-MCP SDGs & Business: AI & Aging Society program kicked off this week. This four-week intensive course is taking place in the Metaverse (Virbela) and brings together 43 students from Japan and the United States to validate business models and frame solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time under the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year, the focus of the program is on the intersection of AI and aging society. Over the course of the program, the students will go through an interactive, collaborative, and step-by-step process to build and validate startup ideas, drawing from insights provided by renowned startup accelerators and the mentorship of industry experts. Culminating in a virtual congress within the metaverse, all teams will showcase their innovative product ideas.

 

During the first sessions, the students connected with lead instructor Samuel Goodman (Ludus Labs) and other program coordinators (Rob Kuipers and Austin Paine) in Zoom and Virbela to learn more about the program content and to get a tour of the virtual office space and campus. Alongside this, students engaged in Ice-breaking activities with their team members, setting the stage for collaborative endeavors, and delved into the initial lectures on the topics of AI and aging society. 

During workshop 1, the students learned about chatbots, compared different AI platforms, and experimented with building their own chatbots using OpenAI's GPT-4. 

Stay tuned for more updates!