Manasi Sharma, Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft, specializing in AI-driven platforms and innovation in creative technologies.
By 2025, AI is projected to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy. Yet, fewer than 22% of AI talent globally are women, highlighting a critical gap in shaping the technologies that will define our future.
Women play a pivotal role in guiding AI toward accountability and inclusivity. Through interdisciplinary work and mentorship, women are shaping a future where technology advances in line with social responsibility. This article explores frameworks, challenges and the impacts of women’s contributions, highlighting how these approaches are essential to advancing AI responsibly.
AI’s Growing Influence And Ethical Standards
As AI becomes central to decision-making systems, it brings along critical ethical considerations, such as bias, accountability and privacy. High-profile cases, like Amazon’s scrapped AI hiring tool that displayed gender bias, underscore the need for frameworks that support responsible AI development.
Responsible AI has been adopted by companies such as Google, IBM and my company, Microsoft, though each has its own list of principles. The framework is designed to guide AI development by prioritizing fairness, transparency and accountability.
However, these principles alone are insufficient without diverse perspectives shaping their implementation. Women’s inclusion in AI development is not only a matter of representation but also a practical necessity to address issues that often go unnoticed in homogeneous teams.
Along with implementing frameworks based on responsible AI, companies must include diverse perspectives that women bring to development teams, as adding new perspectives is key to addressing issues that may otherwise go unnoticed. For example, companies like Adobe have found that diverse teams can help reduce bias in AI models.
Women leaders are already making strides in addressing these challenges. Consider the work of Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, whose groundbreaking research exposed racial and gender biases in facial recognition software. Her advocacy has pushed companies and governments to reconsider their reliance on flawed AI systems and adopt more inclusive practices.
Similarly, Timnit Gebru, a leading AI ethicist and founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), has highlighted the risks of biased datasets in machine learning. Her work emphasizes the importance of transparency in AI development and the need for community-driven approaches to mitigate harm.
Supporting Women In AI
To achieve these goals, companies and the broader tech community will need to empower women in AI. This necessitates targeted education and mentorship initiatives to bridge the gender gap and equip emerging leaders with both technical skills and an ethical mindset.
Here are a few ways that companies can support women in AI development:
1. Join or start mentorship programs. Programs like Girls Who Code and AI4ALL empower young women in AI through practical training and ethical awareness. The goal is early exposure, skill development and ethical training.
2. Provide training to the broader AI community on ethical AI innovation. This training should prioritize:
• Human-Centered Design: Designing AI applications that prioritize user needs, accessibility and fairness. For example, Stanford Human-Centered AI Initiative explores frameworks that put users at the center of AI development.
• Alignment With Sustainable Development Goals: Developing AI solutions that support goals like good health and reduced inequalities. Following The UN’s AI For Good initiative can provide excellent guidance.
• Ethical Profitability: Ensuring AI systems balance profitability with long-term ethical impact.
3. Support women-led startups. Some of these have already made significant contributions by addressing real-world challenges, such as:
• Moonhub.ai utilizes AI-driven platforms to revolutionize hiring by automating candidate search, screening and communication, streamlining the recruitment process.
• Audioshake uses AI to deconstruct music tracks into individual components, allowing music professionals to create new mixes and enhance remastering
These examples highlight how women-led initiatives can directly address systemic issues in industries,
The Consequences Of Bias In AI
Bias in AI isn’t just a technical flaw; it has real-world consequences that affect people’s lives.
Imagine being denied a loan not because of your creditworthiness, but because of an algorithm, shaped by historical biases, that assumes women are at a higher financial risk. Or consider facial recognition software that’s less accurate for darker skin tones, leading to wrongful arrests and deepening the mistrust between communities of color and law enforcement.
These aren’t just isolated incidents, they’re systemic issues that highlight the urgent need for diverse teams and ethical oversight in AI development.
However, the impact of bias goes beyond individual experiences. These flawed systems ripple across society, reinforcing inequality and limiting access to opportunities for already marginalized groups. If AI is to truly serve humanity, it must be designed by teams that reflect the full diversity of the people it’s meant to help.
Women bring unique perspectives and lived experiences that are essential for dismantling these barriers and creating technology that works for everyone.
A Call to Action: Building An Inclusive AI Future
Creating an equitable future for AI requires effort at all levels of society:
• For Companies: Commit to hiring more women in AI roles. Provide mentorship and ethical training. Foster a workplace culture where diverse perspectives are valued and acted upon.
• For Governments: Fund initiatives that open doors for women in STEM fields. Offer scholarships, support public-private partnerships and prioritize funding for inclusive AI solutions.
• For Individuals: Be an ally. Encourage women in your network to explore careers in AI. Mentor those interested in tech. Support women-led startups by investing in or amplifying their work.
Including women doesn’t just make technology better; it makes it fairer.
A Vision For The Future
The future of AI is about more than algorithms and data—it’s about people. It’s about ensuring that this powerful technology reflects the full diversity of humanity. Women’s contributions are not a sidenote in this story. They’re central to it.
Through leadership, innovation and advocacy, women are already proving that AI can be a force for good. But we need to do more to amplify their voices, address systemic biases and build a future where AI serves all of us equitably.
This is a shared responsibility. Together, we can ensure the AI of tomorrow reflects the best of humanity.
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