Process

Development of AI-driven social services and products

STEP 1: SPOT THE SOCIAL CHALLENGE

What to do?

Identify a pressing issue in your neighbourhood/ local community by tapping into real data from the people around you. Use AI tools to gather and analyse feedback. Try Brand24, an AI-powered social listening tool, to spot what your community’s already buzzing about online. To get a clearer picture, try Google forms paired with Gemini (or another free AI chatbot) to gather and make sense of local insights.

How to do it?

Use Brand24: Sign up for the free trial and set up a project with keywords tied to your neighbourhood/local community – e.g., “park near (your area). Let it scan the social media channels (like “X”, Facebook groups, YouTube, etc.) for relevant mentions and hashtags (#). This AI tool will highlight recurring complaints or needs, like “Everyone’s complaining about the messy park on X!”
- Tip: For Brand24, use specific location tags (e.g. your town’s name) to keep it local. For the survey – keep it short and casual – people are more likely to reply.
Use Google Forms/Survey Monkey/Microsoft Forms: Create a survey in Google forms, Survey Monkey, or Microsoft forms with 5-10 questions, like: “What is the most pressing issue/troubling us in our neighbourhood?” or “What do you wish was better around here?” Share it with 10-20 people (neighbours, friends, community members) via the direct Google/Survey Monkey link or with QR code (you can check out QR Code Generator or Canva QR Code Generator)
Once you get responses, paste them into Gemini (or another free AI chatbot, like ChatGPT or Grok) with a prompt like: “Summarize these answers and highlight the biggest community issue.” For example, if people mention the messy park, Gemini might say: “Most responses point to the overgrown local park as a problem affecting families and kids.”
Write a short summary of the problem based on your findings.

STEP 2: BRAINSTORM WITH AI TO FIND SOLUTION

What to do?

Think of AI as a trusted strategic partner to generate innovative solutions for the social challenge you identified in Step 1. Use ChatGPT (or a comparable AI tool like Grok) to explore creative, actionable ideas that harness technology to address your community’s needs effectively and sustainably.

How to do it?

Access ChatGPT or your chosen AI tool and initiate a focused brainstorming session. Remember, you need to input a precise prompt to spark good ideas! A strong prompt should include: (a) the specific social challenge (e.g., “neglected community park”), (b) a request for innovative solutions (e.g., “propose concepts”), (c) an AI component (e.g., “using AI”), and (d) a focus on your specific goals (e.g., “prioritizing social impact and feasibility”).
Review the AI’s suggestions critically. Select the one with the strongest potential for impact and feasibility – consider factors like scalability, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with your community’s resources.
Document your selected idea and its AI features in a concise outline. Example – “GreenLink – an AI platform to revive the park. Features: Chatbot for volunteer coordination, predictive analytics for maintenance planning.”
Tip: Treat the AI as a consultant – always challenge its initial outputs with more questions like “What’s the social return on investment?” to sharpen the solution. Keep your community’s unique context in mind to ensure relevance.

STEP 3: SHAPE YOUR CONCEPT

What to do?

Transform your brainstormed idea into a well-defined social service or product by outlining its core elements – what it does, who it serves, and how AI enhances its value. Use Claude to ensure ethical alignment and Audiense, an AI-powered social listening tool, to validate your concept with real community insights, ensuring it resonates with your target audience.

How to do it?

Draft the key components of your solution: Define its purpose (What does it do?), target audience (Who uses it?), and AI-driven uniqueness (How does AI make it special?). Ensure the concept is clear, practical, and directly tied to the social challenge from Step 1.
Refine with Claude: Input your draft into Claude with a prompt like: “Review this concept – (insert your idea) – and assess its ethical implications and social value. Suggest improvements to maximize inclusivity and impact.” Claude might suggest: “Add an opt-in consent feature to protect privacy and ensure user trust.”
- Tip: In Claude, ask specific ethical questions like “Could this unintentionally exclude anyone?” In Audiense, use location filters and keywords (e.g., “name of the park,” etc.) to explore what is trending locally.
Validate with Audiense: Sign up for Audiense’s free plan and set filters for your location (e.g., your town or region) to analyze what locals are discussing online. Use a query like “What are people in (your area) saying about the local park?” Audiense might reveal: “Residents in (your area) complain the park’s overgrown and lacks activities for kids.” Then, adjust your concept by adding a feature for AI-scheduled family events, based on these insights.
Finalize your concept, incorporating relevant feedback from both tools.

STEP 4: VISUALISE YOUR CONCEPT

What to do?

Now it is time to bring your vision to life. After identifying a community challenge, brainstorming AI-driven solutions, and shaping an ethical concept, you have reached a critical milestone – creating a prototype to showcase your idea. Use Canva AI, Miro or Uizard to visualise your concept.

How to do it?

With Canva: Leverage Canva’s AI-powered features (like Magic Design) to create a visualisation. Design a preview of an app screen, a poster outlining your service’s benefits, or an infographic mapping how your solution works. Upload your Step 3 outline to Canva, and let the AI suggest layouts or visuals to polish your presentation.
With Miro: Use Miro’s free plan to build a dynamic visualisation, ideal for mapping complex workflows. Create a digital storyboard, add sticky notes, arrows, or sample screenshots to show functionality.
With Uizard: Sign up for Uizard’s (an AI-powered prototyping tool) free tier and turn your product idea into concept instantly with Generative AI. Input a text description like “An app to coordinate park cleanups with a chatbot and volunteer notifications”. Uizard’s AI creates an editable digital preview. You can also enhance it by adding additional elements.

Finalize your visualisation with a focus on clarity and impact – ensure it answers: “How does this solve the problem, and why does AI make it better?”

Tip: Aim for simplicity and impact – test your prototype with a friend/community member to confirm it is clear.