Google.org commits $500,000 as first London AI Campus class graduates
Twenty-seven students from Camden secondary schools completed the London AI Campus’s two-year AI Connect enrichment program
Google.org has committed $500,000 to employability and life skills charity Working Options in Education as the first group of students graduates from the Google London AI Campus in King’s Cross.
The cohort comprised 27 students from secondary schools across the London Borough of Camden. They completed AI Connect, a two-year enrichment program delivered through a partnership involving Google, Camden Learning and Camden Council.
Students attended weekly lessons covering artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, alongside applications of AI in sustainability, education and health. The program also incorporated professional and critical thinking skills.
Eileen Mannion, Vice President of Marketing at Google, shared the Google.org funding in a LinkedIn post marking the graduation.
The funding builds on Working Options’ involvement in the campus. The charity supported AI Connect alongside GSK and No Black Boxes, while its Chair, Nigel Morris, had been involved since the program’s early design stages.
Graduates reflect on confidence, skills and the human impact of AI
For the students themselves, the ceremony marked more than the completion of two years of weekly lessons. Louise Siffredi and Amyrah Kihl spoke about developing their confidence and skills alongside a cohort that had come to feel like a family.
That connection will continue beyond graduation. Camden Learning has established an alumni network to support the 27 students as they move into university or apprenticeships.
Melanie V. Eusebe, Director of AI in Society at Google DeepMind, used her address to bring the students’ technical learning back to the people affected by it. “For everything that you code and for every problem that you solve, remember the human face that is going to feel every single one of your decisions,” she told the graduates.
London AI Campus Director Laura Flynn-Coley and founder Amy Brown hosted the ceremony at Camden’s Town Hall Spaces. The program sits within a longer partnership between Google, Camden Council’s STEAM program and Camden Learning, the schools-led organization involving every Camden school.
Its delivery has also drawn on support from industry and community partners. Lowick Hedry provided secretariat services to the campus advisory board, according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Kevin McKeever.
The next confirmed development is the opening of The AI Exchange at Google Platform 37 later this year. Mannion said the initiative would provide further hands-on AI opportunities for the local community.
