The Future of AI is Female.
Take a trip in time to the birth of the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The year is 1948, and Alan Turing has just theorized about the prospect of a machine that can “learn from experience”. This is the seed for AI. The phenomenal Alan Turing is single-handedly responsible for the creation of an entire industry. Or is he…? Let’s go just a bit further back in time to the mid 1800’s to discover who said,
“It (a computational machine) holds a position wholly its own, and the considerations it suggests are more interesting in their nature...we mean any process which alters the mutual relation of two or more things, be this relation of what kind it may. This is the most general definition, and would include all subjects in the universe.”
One hundred years prior to Alan Turing’s prophetic thought, this quote was uttered by Ada Lovelace: a mathematician, scientist, philosopher, writer, and woman. She was one of the earliest scientists to theorize about the capabilities of computer programming, and her papers inspired many future computer scientists including the famed Alan Turing. Unfortunately, Ada Lovelace’s contributions to computer science are riddled with doubt because of the way historians portray her collegial relationship with another mathematician, Charles Babbage. They have hypothesized that she did not contribute to joint projects and simply wrote down what he said, as a kind of secretary. Historians have speculated that she had a shameless personality and pawned off the work of Babbage as her own, and they have even gone so far as to call her insane and out of control. But think for a second… what does this sound like? This sounds a little like the common workplace problem of women being considered less credible than men or not being trusted to be as intelligent as their male counterparts. The frightening part about all of this is that these problems existed in the mid 1800s and two hundred years have done very little to improve matters.
Globally, women make up only 26 percent of the Artificial Intelligence workforce. Why? Simply put, women are not promoted enough in the field. How can we expect women to apply to jobs when college recruiters are still using gendered language in job titles and holding interviews in front of an all male panel? How can women land senior level positions when men are allowed to “grow into a role” and women are expected to have already had the experience before landing the same role? And these are just the things barring entry. After a woman enters the field, she will certainly face workplace bias, workplace discrimination, lack of career growth, and unequal pay. This is merely a peek into the inequality that exists, and yet, it is still a ‘mystery’ why the percentage of women in AI is so low. One hundred percent of the twenty six percent of women in AI are doing amazing things and are making meaningful contributions, but they aren’t getting the credit they deserve because of outdated ideas about the roles of men and women. How can we change things? Easy. Equalize the pay gap, trust women, give women credit for their ideas, optimize the potential for growth within a company, and support initiatives that continue the discussion about the path to equality. The better question is, why should things change?
“Because of the need for AI teams to reflect the populations they intend to address, and given the fact that half the world’s population is female, having more gender diversity within AI is a matter of common sense.”
Women make up 26% of the AI workforce.
According to Harvard Business Review, gender diversity in the workplace leads to increased productivity, more creative solutions, and an overall increase in company profits. In the realm of AI in particular, Allie K. Miller (AWS’ Global Head of Machine Learning Business Development, Startups, and Venture Capital) stated, “Because of the need for AI teams to reflect the populations they intend to address, and given that half of the world’s population is female, having more gender diversity within AI is a matter of common sense.” One of the largest issues plaguing AI today is bias within AI systems. While most biases are unintentional, AI has the potential to perpetuate existing gender biases, which could prove to be detrimental to companies and the clients they serve. A team that is more equally balanced has the ability to recognize and remove biases as they input data, interpret data, and draw conclusions from data.
Companies around the world are feeling the pressure to be bolder and more innovative in order to keep up with their quickly diversifying customer base. In order to succeed, companies need to foster an inclusive environment that hires and retains diverse talent. Representation is about more than just hiring a more diverse workforce. It’s about supporting, mentoring, and amplifying these voices so that future generations see versions of themselves as the head of departments and on an interview panel. The goal is to one day hear a young woman say, “She looks like me! I could do that!”. #TheFutureOfAIIsFemale
