Anya and Ben turn their attention to the applicant themselves, Charaf Eddine Benerrazam. They discuss his background as a software engineer in Casablanca with experience in governmental and public sector projects, emphasizing his focus on designing for the majority of people. The hosts will explore how his professional experience, including projects with the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Youth, and Ministry of Digital Transformation, demonstrates a commitment to societal impact and addressing real-world challenges. Anya and Ben will connect his work on projects with sustainability links, his interest in ethical AI advocacy and sustainable urban mobility, and his vision for leveraging technology to build scalable, ethical systems for public institutions and sustainable infrastructure with the AISS program's emphasis on sustainable societies, artificial intelligence solutions, and participatory design. They will analyze how his skills and motivations align perfectly with the AISS program's goal of training individuals who can use a participatory design approach for studying and designing AI and data-driven sustainable solutions for societies.

In this episode, Anya and Ben unravel the intricacies of the applicant's project proposal, "The AI Labor Impact Index (ALII)". They discuss how ALII aims to be a dynamic, participatory tool to measure AI's labor impact through equity-centered metrics. Anya and Ben explore the framework's key features: the Automation Risk Score (ARS), Augmentation Potential Score (APS), and Resilience Index (RI), and how these metrics move beyond static models to incorporate real-time technical modeling and worker-centered design. The hosts will highlight ALII's methodology, which bridges technical rigor with participatory depth, including co-creation workshops and ethical guardrails. They will emphasize ALII's potential impact for policymakers, workers, and academia, and its focus on sustainability and data-driven decisions, core tenets of the AISS program.

Anya and Ben dive deep into "The Great Convergence," the applicant's exploration of the critical intersection between the emergence of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the urgent need for environmental sustainability, and the fundamental transformation of human labor. They discuss the book's analysis of economic unsustainability, environmental tipping points, and the transformative potential of AGI. Anya and Ben examine the applicant's perspective on how understanding historical technological revolutions can guide the development of AGI towards positive outcomes and the creation of sustainable societies. They will also touch upon the book's exploration of new forms of human contribution in an AGI-enhanced world, and the necessity of sustainable economic systems, all themes deeply aligned with the AISS program's focus on AI for sustainable societies.