Tamar Huggins and her 13-year-old daughter raised $1.4 million for their ChatGPT alternative, Spark Plug, which changes classical literature to African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to create a more inclusive learning experience for Black students.
The mother-daughter duo raised the amount
in their pre-seed funding round led by TD Bank, according to People of Color in Tech. Salesforce, the government of Canada, and NBA Canada also participated in the investment round of funding for the platform that aspires to be a leader in inclusive generative AI (artificial intelligence).According to the outlet, Huggins created the product’s language model with the help of her GenZ daughter, Talia Grant. Grant trained the model along with work by Harlem Renaissance authors and civil rights movement activists, TechCrunch noted.
The creators of the Spark Plug platform hope to make learning more personalized for Black students and Zoomers (the collective
of GenZ). “Historically, Black people haven’t always felt like they belonged, and as a result, we’ve had to create our own spaces,” Huggins told TechCrunch. “Technology is no different.”Black people across the diaspora can look forward to Spark Plug’s translation of different dialects.
Huggins explained why the company plans to expand the product to feature different ways Black people speak, “A Black child in Canada is very different from the U.S., and it’s very different in Haiti or Jamaica.”
She added, “We believe to see the changes we want to see in our community, we have to redesign the learning experience, and in order to redesign it, we have to personalize it.”
The mother and daughter also want people who do not identify as students to be able to use Spark Plug. For example, the platform’s LearningDNA tool can help teachers understand how students learn best.
“As long as we are including the voices of those systematically left out of the conversation, AI can take us in the right direction.”
Huggins’ artificial intelligence company, Tech Spark AI, created Spark Plug. The company established Canada’s first tech and design school for girls and children of color.