How Community Leaders help train migrant women in AI

How Patricia Saca helps train migrant women in AI

When 40 years ago Patricia Saca was learning English by reading labels on food products in American supermarkets, she had no idea that four decades later she’d be helping other migrant women do the same thing on the other side of the world. The only difference was that there would be machines telling you what the products were, in your own language, with photos, and even suggestions of where you might buy them more cheaply.

The world is very different now, in many good ways, but for women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, moving to Australia can still be totally overwhelming.

- Patricia Saca - an El Salvadorian woman who oversees the vibrant program of workshops, vocational courses, and community events at Melbourne’s Yarraville Community Centre.

Harnessing the power of new technologies helps make lives easier

Over the past 12 months, Patricia’s team has been rolling out a series of digital training workshops that aim to give migrant women the skills and confidence to use the various AI apps, voice assistants, chatbots, and other ‘smart tools’ that increasingly support (and occasionally confound) modern lives. Delivered by Good Things Foundation Australia, with funding and support from Microsoft and Telstra, Digital Sisters: AI for Good is about harnessing the power of new technologies to make the lives of migrants a little easier – without the fear and confusion they can sometimes create.

"Imagine you have all this information at your fingertips, but you’ve heard that people can steal your data from these apps or deliberately misinform you, or even that your husband won’t like you using them. So you can get stuck, desperately wanting to use AI, but paralysed by uncertainty about the harm it could cause you." - Patricia Saca

How the AI for Good program was born

AI for Good emerged early last year from Good Things’ Digital Sisters program, which since 2023 has reached over 1,500 women from 47 countries with a practical mix of digital skills and safe online practices. During Digital Sisters’ rollout, it became apparent that the use of AI was one of the biggest hurdles facing women from multicultural backgrounds. Many were missing out on its benefits – despite its rich potential to help new arrivals with everything from learning English to getting around, accessing government services, writing resumés, shopping, banking, and everything in between.

As well as boosting essential digital skills among groups who urgently need them, AI for Good is helping us understand the needs and barriers that these women face with AI. This will also allow us to make strategic business decisions that will help ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly and is safer for all our customers and communities.

– Lyndall Stoyles, Group Executive - Sustainability, External Affairs & Legal, Telstra

Since AI for Good was launched as a pilot project in 2024, it’s enlisted some of the country’s leading AI experts in developing a slew of learning resources, trained 40 bilingual mentors at 20 community organisations, and in just over six months reached an estimated 530 women.

Staying safe online

Among the multitude of exercises, games, tipsheets, and other activities in Good Things’ digital library, privacy and online safety loom large as vital lessons for women who are new to AI. There are exercises that help participants establish privacy settings in specific AI tools, create passwords, learn to secure personal details, and spot obvious scams. And there are practical tips on how to frame and refine questions to get reliable answers from AI – as well as fact-checking AI-generated ‘news’.

“AI is there to help your life, and that’s what these lessons are about,” explains Florencia Calderon, Good Things’ communication and engagement coordinator. “Many of our participants don’t realise that they’re already using AI – in predictive text, or recommendations on their streaming services. When people realise that it’s everywhere – and it’s not out to get you – they start to worry less and see all the positive potential.”

Familiar faces and languages help build trust

It’s clear that for newly arrived women, getting this kind of advice in a trusted setting, from a mentor who speaks their language, surrounded by familiar faces, is a precious commodity.

"It can be so confusing when you first arrive, and people tell you to download these apps for banking, health appointments, government support… but then warn you not to share your details online. So having one of our mentors showing you how to check whether an app is safe and how to register an account – it’s literally opening up a new world for them! Nothing is homogenous in these groups: some women speak very little English, some have never used a computer, some can’t read or write. But for them to be able to take a photo of something in a supermarket and ask an app what it is in their language, and if they can find it cheaper somewhere else… that’s not just a useful tool – it’s a miracle!” says Patricia. 

We need to mitigate the risks of digital exclusion and ensure the most vulnerable groups aren’t slipping further behind. But we also need to lean into the opportunities to give people the confidence that AI can really help them in a practical, human way.

– Tim Allen, National AI Skills Director, Microsoft