The AI Forward Alliance (TAIFA) is charging ahead, fueled by the powerful collaboration between eleven companies and organizations committed to closing the global AI skills gap.
Today, TAIFA proudly announces another milestone in building its ecosystem as we welcome EY, UNICEF’s Public-Private-Youth Partnership platform Generation Unlimited, the world’s leading digital workflow company ServiceNow, and leading global commerce company Shopify who join Google, UNICEF, and the Grameen Foundation, among others, in a groundbreaking mission to equip girls worldwide with the tools and confidence to become AI innovators and STEM trailblazers.
These new partners aren’t just lending their names; they’re actively shaping the future. The Alliance is designed strategically, with each organization leveraging its knowledge, network, and capital to empower the next generation of female leaders and innovators to solve complex global problems. Shopify and ServiceNow join as funding and resource partners, while Generation Unlimited brings its expertise as a network partner to reach and support more girls on their entrepreneurial journeys. EY teams will provide knowledge through mentoring, coaching, and judging.
Since its launch in January 2024, TAIFA has engaged nearly 8,000 mentors and more than 31,000 girls ages 8-18 globally. Together, TAIFA and its partners are driving progress toward the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, empowering girls with real-world problem-solving skills and a deep understanding of AI technology.
“It’s not enough to inspire a girl to become a tech CEO, we have to ensure that she has all the support she needs — at every step of the way — in college, as she starts her career, when she launches a business, and so on,” said Tara Chklovski, CEO of Technovation. “This is because women face huge barriers at every step of the way — from their families, their educators, their managers, their bankers—and we need to provide a continuum of support if we truly want to change the face of innovation. TAIFA partners provide just that.”
At the heart of TAIFA’s mission is Technovation’s globally accessible curriculum, offering hands-on tech learning for girls with a focus on AI since 2017. Over the course of 17 years, Technovation has reached over 135,000 participants, sparking girls’ interest in computing, entrepreneurship and community-based solutions that leverage the most cutting edge technology.
“Technovation was an opportunity for me to think beyond code and conceptualize a full-fledged product and business,” said Sidney Hough, a 2019 Technovation finalist and scholarship winner who built a product, Chord, following her participation in the program, and has since grown the AI crowdsourcing tool into a full-blown venture-backed startup. “I’m glad that this opportunity will now be available to hundreds of thousands of young women, thanks to TAIFA. The future tech workforce will be stronger for it.”
The new Alliance partners are eager to lend their expertise and resources to support more girls and young women like Sidney.
“We are excited and proud to join Technovation and The AI Forward Alliance, and to collaborate with this community to increase the number of girls and young women using innovative technologies like AI,” said Vanessa Smith, President at ServiceNow.org.
“EY is committed to harnessing its power to create positive social change through our Women in Tech and EY Ripples program,” said Amanda Gethin, EY Global Advisory Talent Leader and EY Global Women in Tech Leader. “We strongly believe that by educating and empowering girls and women in AI, we are not only bridging the gender gap in technology and leadership, but also helping accelerate progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals for a better, equitable and sustainable world.”
“In today’s rapidly evolving world, it is essential that we equip young people with the skills and opportunities they need to thrive in the 21st century,” said Kevin Frey, CEO of Generation Unlimited. “Generation Unlimited is invested in co-creating a world with inclusive AI, which not only addresses the digital divide and gender gap in the technology sector but recognizes AI’s potential to drive innovation and generate meaningful opportunities for youth in the digital and green economies. By pooling in our expertise, resources and networks, and being responsive to the needs of young people, we can build impact that is lasting, scalable and sustainable.”
“Shopify is thrilled to partner with Technovation and the AI Forward Alliance to equip younger generations with the education they need to thrive as entrepreneurs and tech leaders in the future,” said Sydney Piggott, Senior Social Impact Manager at Shopify. “We’re also looking forward to engaging Shopify employees as volunteers to mentor and coach girls as they learn the power of emerging technologies like AI.”
About The AI Forward Alliance
The AI Forward Alliance (TAIFA) is committed to providing 25 millions girls and young women with the skills, knowledge, access, tools and mentorship to not only understand how AI models work, but to train, develop and deploy their own machine learning models and transformative technologies that tackle real-world problems in their communities. The Alliance comprises eleven organizations: Technovation, UNICEF, Grameen Foundation, Google, The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, App Inventor Foundation, Girl Geek X, Shopify, EY, Generation Unlimited, and ServiceNow.
The collaborative expertise and resources of Technovation and UNICEF form a powerful leadership and partnership driving the Alliance. At the core of TAIFA’s strategy, Technovation’s program empowers girls and young women with tech education, an entrepreneurial mindset, and future-ready skills, extending beyond the development of hard skills. The program guides girls in identifying real-world problems, developing solutions, and instills the agency to tackle these pressing challenges.