Here’s how I’m using AI for social good

What’s it like working as an Emerging Technologies Specialist? 

I work across two teams as part of my graduate scheme - the AI team and the XR team which incorporates virtual and augmented reality technology. 

On a typical day, I work on a variety of exciting projects across both teams. I have a ‘stand up’ call with the AI engineering team every morning, where we discuss the projects each member is working on and what we aim to get done on the day. Currently, I am supporting an AI project that collects a range of biometric, cognitive and psychometric data from PwC volunteers that we aim to bring together to provide meaningful insights into employees’ wellbeing.

I usually spend a few hours a day coding and have meetings with team members to resolve issues or bugs. I personally like to go into the office almost every day as it helps me focus and is much easier to work collaboratively with team members as we can talk through our projects in person.

For the XR team, my role is very people-facing and I spend a lot of time preparing our fleet of virtual reality headsets and onboarding people in VR (virtually and in person). I familiarise them with the technology and the headsets and help to run demos with clients and internal teams across our lines of service to showcase our experiences and different use cases. 

Most recently, I’ve supported various demos of our inclusion and diversity VR experience that we produced in-house. The experience is called ‘In My Shoes’, and was built in collaboration with PwC’s multicultural business network. It incorporates the direct experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people by putting the viewer in the shoes of someone from a minority background. It’s a completely immersive, first-hand experience and a very powerful tool to raise awareness of inclusion and diversity.

I also often test out new software and different VR headsets that have just come to market - most recently, I tested the new HP Reverb G2 Omnicept headset, which can measure muscle movement, gaze, pupil size and pulse and can thus deliver valuable insights into a user’s engagement or a trainee’s learning performance and ability to make decisions. I’ll also have the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Paris to test and review another brand-new headset - the Lynx R1.

I really enjoy the huge diversity of subject matters that both roles bring with them and the variety of different tasks I get involved with on a daily basis!