In a recent Forbes article titled “A Call For A Systemic Dismantling: These Women Refuse To Be Hidden Figures In The Development Of AI,” Professor Kelly Lyons and eight other influential women weighed in on representation within the tech and AI community. The author, Hessie Jones, was prompted by recent events to examine the ongoing struggle for recognition and respect for women’s contributions and voices in AI.
Professor Kelly Lyons was appointed Interim Director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society last year and previously held the position of Associate Director. In the article, she highlighted the Institute’s 2022-2023 Women in AI series, a six-part speaker series in collaboration with Deloitte which drew over 1,000 global participants and covered a range of AI topics, from healthcare innovations to AI governance. According to Professor Lyons, programs like these are “vital to surfacing important conversations and initiating meaningful connections.”
Professor Lyons was quoted saying, “I have been fortunate to be part of a strong network of very smart, technical women in industry and academia. We may be smaller in proportion within the technical community, but we are large in our voices, our contributions, and our support for one another. The need for initiatives increasing diversity in tech—and especially in the world of artificial intelligence—is vital. We must ensure that the people working on AI systems reflect the concerns, experiences, and identities of the populations affected by these systems. Advocating for women in the AI sector requires a strong, united voice.”
Featured alongside Professor Lyons were Theodora Lau, Founder of Unconventional Ventures; Karen Bennet, VP Engineering xplAInr.AI; Margaret Mitchell, Researcher and Chief Ethics Scientist at HuggingFace; Volha Litvinets, Senior Risk Consultant at Ernst & Young; Mia Dand, Founder at Women in AI Ethics, Stephanie Lipp, Founder, MyCoFutures; Staci LaToison, Founder, Dream Big Ventures; and Victoria Hailey, CMC of The Victoria Hailey Group Corporation.
