Ideas worth spreading

What refugees need to start new lives

1,829,687 views |

Muhammed Idris |

TED Residency

• December 2018

Every minute, 20 people are newly displaced by climate change, economic crisis and political instability, according to the UNHCR. How can we help them overcome the barriers to starting new lives? TED Resident Muhammed Idris is leading a team of technologists, researchers and refugees to develop Atar, the first-ever AI-powered virtual advocate that guides displaced people through resettlement, helping restore their rights and dignity. "Getting access to the right resources and information can be the difference between life and death," Idris says.

Every minute, 20 people are newly displaced by climate change, economic crisis and political instability, according to the UNHCR. How can we help them overcome the barriers to starting new lives? TED Resident Muhammed Idris is leading a team of technologists, researchers and refugees to develop Atar, the first-ever AI-powered virtual advocate that guides displaced people through resettlement, helping restore their rights and dignity. "Getting access to the right resources and information can be the difference between life and death," Idris says.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about how you can help protect and scale global refugee resettlement.

About the speaker

Muhammed Idris

Entrepreneur, investor

See speaker profile

Muhammed Idris wants to improve social services delivery through collective and artificial intelligence.

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Marco Compana has been at the forefront of technology in human services for well over a decade. A thought leader in the space, his recent focus has been on helping build capacity for technological innovation in immigration and refugee services.

International Rescue Committee, 2018 | Explore

"(Un)welcome: the state of refugee resettlement in America"

The International Rescue Committee, through its Airbel Innovation Center, is doing cutting edge work applying technology and artificial intelligence to scaling refugee resettlement. Read this report on the challenges facing refugee resettlement in the United States today.

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Welcome Collective

The Welcome Collective is a wonderful organization in Montreal whose mission is to help vulnerable, newly arrived asylum seekers gather the essential items they need to live and to integrate into their new homes. WeCo provides a great example of how an organization can leverage technology to enable service delivery.

UNHCR | Explore

Jetson is the flagship project of the UNHCR Innovation service that uses machine learning to predict movements of displaced people. This data and these methods can help predict bottlenecks in service delivery and inform the allocation of limited resources to frontline humanitarian organizations.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about how you can help protect and scale global refugee resettlement.