Join executive leaders at the Conversational AI & Intelligent AI Assistants Summit, presented by Five9. Watch now!
At VentureBeats third annual Women in AI Breakfast at Transform 2021, leaders in AI and machine learning across industries came together to discuss some of the most urgent questions in the tech sector today, including what responsible AI and engineering means, and the roles and responsibilities of corporates, academia, governments, and society as a whole in getting more diverse voices into the tech sector, and more.
This year the breakfast, presented by Capital One, was moderated by Noelle Silver, the founder of Women in AI. The breakfast opened with a talk about what inclusive engineering means for the tech sector and why it cant just be the responsibility of those who are underrepresented.
Diversity must encapsulate diversity of race and ethnicity and religion, but also economic diversity, diversity of experience, and diversity of education, said Teuta Mercado, director of the responsible AI program at Capital One. And inclusive engineering means ensuring that all voices are represented. Many corporations are starting to do the outreach necessary to bring more diversity into this field with recruiting efforts and imperatives, she noted.
At Capital One, inclusive engineering means ensuring that our products and our services really reflect our customer base, and are accessible to all, said Mercado. Banking customers represent all facets of society, and everyone needs credit services, so its really important that we have diverse teams that are working on and building AI and machine learning so that we can build for all our customers, and not just for some.
Kathy Baxter, principal architect of ethical AI practice at Salesforce, has a background in psychology and human factors engineering, noting that shes benefited from the strong mix of genders seen in psychology and user experience research.
So, when moving into AI, Ive been able to leverage those different experiences of working across roles, she said. Seeking out people with a large variety of expertise and disciplines to contribute and participate in our discussions of what it means to create fair and equitable AI and identifying unintended consequences of AI systems.
Tiffany Deng, who leads the program management team for Responsible AI at Google, explained that her time in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer prepared her for what she does today: bringing different voices to the table in order to find solutions.
That is what inclusive engineering is about its about giving voice to the underrepresented, and ensuring not only that their voice is heard, but its acted upon, Dang said. And then thinking about going into communities and understanding how a problem may present itself differently in that subtle context, as opposed to what we already think or what weve already seen.
At the World Economic Forum, we think about inclusive engineering globally, said Kay Firsh Butterfield, head of AI and machine learning, and executive committee member of the World Economic Forum.
Companies need to have multi-stakeholder teams so when theyre thinking about policy, that should include academics, nonprofits, governments, and businesses in the room but thats not enough, she said.
Weve been doing some work with a number of the big tech companies to ask what does responsible use of technology actually look like, she said. One of the things we know is that you need diverse product teams. We should all be at the table, with different backgrounds, so that our products use good, non-biased AI.
When talking about increasing the diversity of teams, it comes back to the pipeline issue, or encouraging people of marginalized backgrounds or underrepresented minorities to participate, Baxter added.
I dont want us putting all of the onus on women and other minorities to have to push their way into the door, and I feel like thats what often comes of these discussions, she said. Instead we need to look within our own companies, when we are hiring. Really taking significant time and effort to ensure we have a diversity of sources.
That means not hiring the very first person who meets the job criteria, but continuing to talk to a wide range of people who might be interested in these jobs which takes time and effort, but needs to be done. And then, once individuals are in the companies, its making sure that the environment is actually inclusive.
Too often, there are the micro aggressions and toxicities that not only impact an individuals ability to participate in these conversations, but also to keep them long-term, so that we lose the contributions that they could have given to the company, Baxter said.
There are so many different perspectives around every single day that weve always tried to tap into, in order to come to a better solution for our users, Deng said. A thing that really keeps me going is this idea of intersectionality.
We all have different facets, and identify in very different ways, and companies need to continue to build upon that in truly inclusive ways for these different communities, to ensure that all voices brought into the fold are heard, she said.
Its not enough just to have the women. We have to have men who are in positions of power, also supporters, who also understand that there is a role in their companies for us and that they actually begin to do much better if they have diversity within their country, their cabinet, or within the C-suite, Firth Butterfield said.
So many have struggled against bias in their field, Mercado said, but many things have kept her going.
One, the network: just surrounding yourself with women and men, people who care about what theyre doing, who are passionate about ethical AI or passionate about just doing whats right for our customers for people who are using the products, she said. And then the biggest thing for me is working for a company that has a culture of empowerment, allowing you to do the right thing.
Diversity and inclusion in AI, the erasure of bias in machine learning algorithms, and inclusive engineering is an issue that directly impacts the bottom line, but its so much bigger than that, said Deng.
Me being a Black woman, I think about my children and how can I make the world better for them, and how can I make the world safer for them, she said. AI is omnipresent; its a part of how we go to school, how we district, how things and services are distributed in our communities. And so I want to make that better. This is really an inflection point, and a really great opportunity for us to have deep impact, in all those different types in places in society.
Dont miss the full discussion, from how bias has impacted womens careers in male-dominated fields to how men often miscalculate what women can bring to the table, to how everyone must continue pushing traditional boundaries of these sectors, building truly inclusive community and ensuring that all perspectives are considered at every moment of the design process, and more.
Read the original here:
- Chinese national arrested and charged with stealing AI trade secrets from Google - NPR - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- President Biden Calls for Ban on AI Voice Impersonations During State of the Union - Variety - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Revolutionize Your Business with AWS Generative AI Competency Partners | Amazon Web Services - AWS Blog - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Broadcom Expects AI Demand to Help Offset Weakness Elsewhere - Yahoo Finance - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Micron Hits Record High With Analysts Calling It an 'Under-Appreciated AI Beneficiary' - Investopedia - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- The Adams administration quietly hired its first AI czar. Who is he? - City & State New York - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- AI likely to increase energy use and accelerate climate misinformation report - The Guardian - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Could Double, and It Is Way Cheaper Than Nvidia - Yahoo Finance - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Fake images made to show Trump with Black supporters highlight concerns around AI and elections - The Associated Press - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Artificial intelligence and illusions of understanding in scientific research - Nature.com - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Analysis | House AI task force leaders take long view on regulating the tools - The Washington Post - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Don't Give Your Business Data to AI Companies - Dark Reading - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- NIST, the lab at the center of Bidens AI safety push, is decaying - The Washington Post - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Essay | AI is Coming! Tips for Staying Calm and Carrying On - The Wall Street Journal - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- AI can be easily used to make fake election photos - report - BBC.com - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Could Make You a Millionaire - Yahoo Finance - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- AI could be an extraordinary force for good. So why do our politicians still not have a plan? - The Guardian - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Mapping Disease Trajectories from Birth to Death with AI - Neuroscience News - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- India plans 10,000-GPU sovereign AI supercomputer - The Register - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- SAP enhances Datasphere and SAC for AI-driven transformation - CIO - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Jim Cramer names companies and sectors poised to rally on the AI wave - CNBC - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- The job applicants shut out by AI: The interviewer sounded like Siri - The Guardian - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Microsoft confirms Surface and Windows AI event for March 21st - The Verge - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Adobes new Express app brings Firefly AI tools to iOS and Android - The Verge - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- A Google AI Watched 30,000 Hours of Video GamesNow It Makes Its Own - Singularity Hub - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Palantir CEO Karp on TITAN, AI Warfare Technology - Bloomberg - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Elliptic Curve Murmurations Found With AI Take Flight - Quanta Magazine - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- 5 AI Stocks to Buy in March 2024, According to Analysts - TipRanks.com - TipRanks - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Wix's new AI chatbot builds websites in seconds based on prompts - The Verge - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- Amid record high energy demand, America is running out of electricity - The Washington Post - March 8th, 2024 [March 8th, 2024]
- AI Crypto Tokens in 5 Minutes: What to Know and Where to Start - Inc. - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- 'The Worlds I See' by AI visionary Fei-Fei Li '99 selected as Princeton Pre-read - Princeton University - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- AI is having a 1995 moment, analyst says - Business Insider - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Vatican research group's book outlines AI's 'brave new world' - National Catholic Reporter - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Honor's Magic 6 Pro launches internationally with AI-powered eye tracking on the way - The Verge - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Google explains Gemini's embarrassing AI pictures of diverse Nazis - The Verge - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data - The Verge - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- What's the point of Elon Musk's AI company? - The Verge - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- AI agents like Rabbit aim to book your vacation and order your Uber - NPR - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Announcing Microsofts open automation framework to red team generative AI Systems - Microsoft - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- After Nvidia's latest blowout, here are 20 AI stocks expected to rise as much as 44% - Yahoo Finance - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- 1 Exceptional AI Chip Stock Investors Need to Know About in 2024 - The Motley Fool - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- Nvidia briefly hits $2 trillion valuation as AI frenzy grips Wall Street - Reuters - February 26th, 2024 [February 26th, 2024]
- AI Chatbots Can Guess Your Personal Information From What You ... - WIRED - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Harvard IT Launches Pilot of AI Sandbox to Enable Walled-Off Use ... - Harvard Crimson - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Advancing policing through AI: Insights from the global law ... - Police News - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Hochul announces new SUNY, IBM investments in AI - Olean Times Herald - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Nvidia's banking on TensorRT to expand its generative AI dominance - The Verge - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- AI expands from MRFs to vehicles - Plastics Recycling Update - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- AI Reads Ancient Scroll Charred by Mount Vesuvius in Tech First - Scientific American - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- A DEEPer (squared) dive into AI Harvard Gazette - Harvard Gazette - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Florida bar weighs whether lawyers using AI need client consent - Reuters - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Cognizant and Vianai Systems Announce Strategic Partnership to ... - PR Newswire - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- How AI could speed up scientific discoveries, from proteins to ... - NPR - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- AI challenge to deliver better healthcare | Western Australian ... - Government of Western Australia - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Henry Kissinger: The Path to AI Arms Control - Foreign Affairs Magazine - October 18th, 2023 [October 18th, 2023]
- Stability AI releases StableStudio in latest push for open-source AI - The Verge - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai Predicts That This Profession Will Be ... - The Motley Fool - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Frances privacy watchdog eyes protection against data scraping in AI action plan - TechCrunch - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Investing in Hippocratic AI - Andreessen Horowitz - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- As Alphabet flexes its AI prowess, there's a 'new elephant in the room' for Google - MarketWatch - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Boring Future of Generative AI | WIRED - WIRED - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- OpenAI readies new open-source AI model, The Information reports - Reuters.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- What every CEO should know about generative AI - McKinsey - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI creates images of the 'perfect' man and woman - Sky News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Audit AI search tools now, before they skew research - Nature.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 3 Reasons C3.ai Stock Could Be Your Golden Ticket to the AI ... - InvestorPlace - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Zoom makes a big bet on AI with investment in Anthropic - VentureBeat - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI voice phone scams are on the rise. Here's how to avoid them - USA TODAY - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Amazon is building an AI-powered conversational experience for ... - The Verge - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI speculators need to 'differentiate between actual spending and investment' and hype: Strategist - Yahoo Finance - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI Can Be Both Accurate and Transparent - HBR.org Daily - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- You're Probably Underestimating AI Chatbots | WIRED - WIRED - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters - The Associated Press - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- We need AI to help us face the challenges of the future - The Guardian - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- End Of Googles Dominance? Stock Gets Rare Analyst Downgrade Over AI Fears - Forbes - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Watch 44 million atoms simulated using AI and a supercomputer - New Scientist - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- AI Is The New Electricity: Bank Of America Picks 20 Stocks To Cash In On ChatGPT Hype - Forbes - March 2nd, 2023 [March 2nd, 2023]
- Tech Giants Are Barreling Headfirst Into an AI Arms Race - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Bing's AI Is Threatening Users. That's No Laughing Matter - TIME - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]