Women leading AI

Written by Leila Toplic

As AI continues to rapidly transform the way we live and work, women must take a leading role in guiding its development and deployment. With the far-reaching impact of AI and existing power imbalances, the responsibility to steer AI towards a responsible and safe future cannot be left solely to technologists. Women's diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise as both users and developers are needed to ensure AI's impact on society is equitable and benefits all. Women leaders in every industry have the power to ask critical questions, advocate for responsible AI, and harness its potential to address societal challenges.

Setting the scene

AI is becoming more and more prevalent in our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. From healthcare to finance, education to work, there's a rapidly growing number of AI applications being used across various industries. These applications have the power to drastically alter how we access vital services like education, healthcare, and employment, how we find and communicate information, and even how we tackle society's most pressing issues like climate change, poverty, and displacement.

AI has the potential to greatly benefit society, but it also has the power to reinforce existing inequities and cause harmful consequences on a large scale. There are many examples of AI systems being designed to - unintentionally or intentionally - make discriminatory decisions, surveil people, or encroach on privacy with the misuse of personal data.

Women are particularly at risk of being negatively impacted by AI. For example, they may be denied job opportunities, receive incorrect medical diagnoses, or be misidentified by facial analysis software with a 1-in-3 failure rate for darker-skinned females. This is especially concerning because women already face social disadvantages, such as higher rates of illiteracy and disconnection, greater likelihood of living in poverty, and significantly lower rates of familiarity with and ability to utilize digital technology. As a result, women are underrepresented in fields related to AI and technology, with only 20% of employees in technical roles in major Machine Learning companies, 12% of AI researchers globally, and 6% of professional software developers being women. This underrepresentation limits women's ability to shape the design and deployment of AI and address existing inequalities.

The path forward

To move forward, it is critical that women are actively included and empowered in the creation and deployment of AI, both as users and developers. By asking questions and actively engaging in the creation and implementation process, regardless of their level of technical expertise, women can ensure that AI is being used in a responsible, safe, and equitable way.  

Here are four key ways women can lead the way for AI:

( 1 )  Promote diversity and empowerment in AI: The deployment of AI carries significant risks if we do not prioritize diversity and representation in the teams designing and deploying the technology and the data used to train AI systems. Ensuring that AI reflects the diversity of the people it intends to serve is essential for building a more fair and just society for all. Women have a key role to play in increasing the representation of women in the AI field, including design, deployment, and policy. This requires addressing inequity at every stage: from educating more women in AI and hiring them into the roles that guide the design and deployment of AI to facilitating ongoing empowerment of women through mentoring, access to opportunities for advancement, and proactively addressing the issues of discrimination when they arise. Representation in AI needs to extend beyond technical skills – all women, regardless of their technical knowledge, can and should lead AI given its broad applicability and impact on all aspects of society, such as healthcare, education, and finance.

( 2 )  Advocate for ethical and responsible AI: As AI becomes more capable and more pervasive in our society, it’s critical to ensure that AI systems are designed and deployed responsibly. Women need to play an active role in shaping the development and use of AI in a way that is ethical, responsible, and beneficial to society as a whole. Accountability for fair, safe, and beneficial AI starts by being intentional about what problems to solve with AI (or not!) and proactively anticipating ethical risks, scanning for consequences, and mitigating anything that may harm or disadvantage individuals and communities.

( 3 )   Collaborate effectively with AI: As technology gets better than humans at analyzing vast amounts of data and making data-driven decisions, we will need to learn how to collaborate effectively and safely with AI. For example, we will need to understand how and why AI makes decisions and decide when to accept AI's recommendations and when to overrule them (e.g., a doctor might decide to overrule a diagnosis prediction by AI, or a hiring manager might question AI’s candidate recommendation). We will also need to know how to augment AI’s predictive capabilities with our intelligence and lived experience to make good decisions. The key to doing that effectively is investing in a wide range of human capabilities and skills such as creativity, communication and collaboration, emotional intelligence, and ethical judgment.

( 4 )  Use AI to address societal challenges: As AI becomes more prevalent in our society and proves itself capable of taking on tasks typically associated with humans, it's vital that we stop and consider the path we want to take. On one hand, we have the opportunity to harness the power of AI to address some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, from climate change to poverty and inequality. But on the other hand, if we allow AI to be used recklessly or for frivolous purposes, we risk serious consequences, including eroded trust, perpetuated discrimination, and even exploitation of our own species. The choice is ours. Women, armed with their unique skills and expertise, have the opportunity to shape the future we want and guide AI toward a more equitable, prosperous, and safe world for all.

If there’s one thing you take away from this post, it is that women, both as users and developers of AI, have the ability and responsibility to shape its impact on society through their diverse perspectives and expertise.