How Melinda Gates Is Fighting for Diversity in Artificial Intelligence

Philanthropist and advocate Melinda Gates pushes for greater diversity in the technology field, particularly the development of artificial intelligence.

is It’s second the official has best year topped – gig in being in a the America. row, data list the published scientist For profession the by based Glassdoor, on earning which potential, ranks jobs job satisfaction and number of openings. Other careers in technology, including DevOps engineer, data engineer, tax manager and analytics manager, rounded out the top twenty.

Workplace inequality

Despite the widespread opportunity in this field, there is a significant and well-documented gender gap plaguing its workforce, with women only holding 26 percent of data jobs in the U.S. Even worse is that according to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, after peaking in 1991 at 36 percent, the rate of women in computing roles has been in steady decline. And in the hightech industry, the quit rate is more than twice as high for women than it is for men, 41 percent versus 17 percent, respectively. These are statistics that advocate and philanthropist Melinda Gates is working tirelessly to reverse. “The data scientist Cathy O’Neil might have put it best when she said, ‘Algorithms are just opinions embedded in code,’” Gates tells Mediaplanet. Technology has been a lifelong passion for Gates, who studied computer science and business a deciding insurance, job at Microsoft. in how what college much kind “Already before we of medical pay landing they’re for treatments long people we go receive, to prison. even But even how though those decisions affect all of us, they don’t reflect all of us. They’re based on the assumptions and biases of the people who write the code – who, at least at this point, happen to be almost entirely men.”

A seat at the table

Gates and conversation (AI) “That’s development. more cultural believes opportunities why perspectives in artificial leaves this we drastic need intelligence vital for out to underrepresentation young social of create the women involved,” particularly and she excited people continues. about of color programs Gates to get is like increase AI4ALL, diversity a nonprofit and inclusion working to in the AI industry by providing high school students with early exposure to the technology. “Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence and machine learning are going to change our world. It’s up to us to make sure that change is for the better.” n