Detroit Urban Health AI Challenge coming to UDM Oct. 25-26

The Detroit Urban Health AI Challenge, organized by University of Detroit Mercy’s (UDM) Center for Augmenting Intelligence, is a two-day hackathon designed to foster AI innovation in addressing Detroit’s urgent urban health disparities.

The event offers a platform for experimentation, learning and advancing the ethical use of AI in healthcare while promoting social equity and ensuring environmental sustainability. By bringing together students, professionals and community members, the event aims to develop actionable AI solutions that can transform health outcomes for Detroit residents.

The event will take place Friday, Oct. 25 from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. in Room 124 of the Health Professions Facility on the University’s McNichols Campus. Dinner at the event on Friday and breakfast and lunch on Saturday are included. The event is free to all participants and entry will be capped at 100 participants.

Student participants are invited to work with technology companies and community organizations to display their skills in crafting effective prompts across various AI models and modalities.

Participants will engage with tasks that may cover the following areas: 

• Text-based: Text generation, classification and summarization. 
• Speech and audio: Voice-to-text, text-to-speech and speech-to-speech translation. 
• Image and vision: Text-to-image generation, image recognition and object detection. 
• Video: Text-to-video generation and video understanding. 
• Multi-modal: Combining text, image and audio functionalities. 

At the onsite competition, students will compete for prizes that include Amazon gift cards, certificates of achievement and special recognition. In addition, they will receive an opportunity to join the Health Innovation Studio, a new initiative supported by the UDM Titan Innovation Fund. The Health Innovation Studio is a new collaboration between the College of Health Professions and the Computer Science Department and will focus on turning ideas into actionable projects. An online version of the competition will be available for those unable to attend in person, though online participants will not be eligible for onsite prizes.

Community organizations seeking to drive innovation and improve health outcomes in the Detroit community are also needed. Connect with healthcare professionals, AI experts and community organizations to bring real-world health challenges facing the community to the forefront and work with innovators to develop sustainable, AI-driven solutions. 

Community organizations can: 

• Submit a challenge: Share health issues impacting the Detroit community that could benefit from innovative AI solutions. 
• Participate in networking: Connect with participants and other community leaders at the event. 
• Collaborate on projects: Work alongside teams to develop and implement AI solutions directly benefiting organizations and the communities they serve. 

This event is supported by the Detroit Mercy Titan Innovation Fund, an initiative that ensures that the brightest ideas receive the resources and support they need to thrive. Additional sponsorships at various levels are welcome. 

For more information regarding participation or to become an event sponsor, please visit the Detroit Urban Health AI Challenge's webpage or contact Detroit Mercy Associate Professor Philip Olla at ollaph@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1565.