Announcing Finalists for DARPA’s AI Tools for Adult Learning

DARPA’s AI Tools for Adult Learning saw over 250 submissions this year. 

We saw many ideas for tools that will positively impact adult learners in new and innovative ways, tackling workforce needs from various angles. 

Some tools help to identify and address gaps in skill areas to improve employability – such as a platform that will integrate user and job market data to determine what skills are needed to advance to a different role. 

Other tools help to upskill and reskill adult learners in areas where they are seeking to build their skills– like an AI-powered solution that supports learners in enhancing coding skills and transitioning to a new field. 

We also saw tools that support learners in documenting credentials and gaining accreditation to best leverage the skills they have – like an intelligent tutoring system that prepares learners for certification exams. 

These themes and others are reflected in the line-up of sixteen finalists that will pitch to judges representing philanthropy, industry, and research next month. Narrowing the pool of competitors was a difficult job.

We are thrilled to announce the finalists for DARPA’s AI Tools for Adult Learning.  A total of $750,000 will be awarded to winners and will be announced in Summer 2023. 

Finalists include:

• Caselet (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
• Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf)
• Conversational AI for Learning Introductory Programming (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• DivySci (DivySci Software)
• Elevate is a learner model generator – it creates learner models quickly, efficaciously and at scale (Digital Futures Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University and United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence) 
• Haiku Game-Based Cybersecurity Training (Haiku, Inc.)
• HyperSkill (SimInsights Inc.)
• IMITATE (Design Interactive, Inc.)
• KNO – your very own personal tutor (Alltius Inc.)
• Korbit AI Tutor (Korbit Tech)
• Physics-Based Digital Twins of Manufacturing Machines (Arizona State University)
• PowerTechs 
• QuickTA (TutorGen Inc.)
• Skills Empowerment Passport (SkyHive and SME)
• UpskillIT (The University of Memphis)
• Wingspans, leveraging storytelling and AI, for human-centered career discovery (Wingspans)