AI is becoming an integral part of our society. This is good news in many ways. AI will bring efficiency to many sectors, for example, in healthcare where it is being used to assign patients to care programs based on their needs. However, in 2019, a study revealed that an algorithm used for this purpose in US hospitals was less likely to recommend Black patients than white patients who were equally sick. When AI can’t recognize Black women Algorithmic bias is not only an issue for AI in healthcare, it
The Kapor Center and the NAACP recently shared the findings of their research on the state of diversity in the tech ecosystem. From PreK-12 education to tech venture capital, Black people must overcome various challenges to progress through their careers. The research examined Black experiences at each stage of the Leaky Tech Pipeline, providing insights into the steps we need to take to ensure Black folk can thrive in tech. The leaky tech pipeline PreK-12 For Black students in the PreK-12 educational system, socio-economic disparities and a lack of access to
Companies that report workforce demographic data outperform those that don’t, according to a new analysis by JUST Capital. JUST Capital found that Russell 1000 companies that publicly disclose data on the gender, race, and ethnicity of their workforce by job category more than tripled between 2021 and 2022, increasing from 11% to 34%. Moreover, companies that disclose such demographic data outperform those that don’t by 7.9%. Diversity is good for business A 2015 McKinsey study previously showed that the country’s most racially diverse companies were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their
Spotify has allegedly spent less than 10% of a $100 million diversity fund it launched after its top podcaster, Joe Rogan, came under fire for spreading Covid-19 misinformation and using racial slurs in his podcast. The world’s largest music streaming service announced its $100 million Creator Equity Fund in February 2022 to support the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups. However, Bloomberg News reports that, after its first year, Spotify had spent less than 10% of the money on that work. Riddled with
Inclusive early-stage venture firm Ada Ventures‘s second cohort of its operator angel program is committing £1 million ($1.2 million) to diverse angel investors. Ada Ventures selected 20 specialist operators and founders from underrepresented backgrounds across the UK, providing them with up to £50,000 ($61,000) each to invest. The angels come from sectors across climate, software development, economic empowerment, product, and healthcare & aging. Blind scoring process The cohort was selected through an open application process and scored blindly to reduce bias. The result is one of the most diverse angel cohorts
Several Black-led venture capital firms have written an open letter in response to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed which suggests Silicon Valley Bank’s diversity focus contributed to its collapse. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the WSJ published an opinion piece by Kessler in which he stated: “I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.” Black Women in Venture Capital, BLCK VC, 1863 Ventures, and Living Cities wrote an open letter to the Wall Street Journal editors and
Edtech startup Kai XR has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to expand its virtual reality (VR) educational resources to one million kids across the US. Kapor Capital led the oversubscribed round, which included Mitchell Kapor Foundation, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, and others. The Oakland-based edtech startup is making education more accessible through inclusive mixed-reality spaces that allow children to explore, create, and learn. From education to innovation Kai Frazier founded Kai XR in 2018. Through her time as an educator in the classroom and in museums,
Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse has reignited debates about whether the US government is doing enough to regulate financial institutions – but another debate is brewing. Here’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on March 12: “Was there regulatory failure? Perhaps. SVB was regulated like a bank but looked more like a money-market fund. Then there’s this: In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women they also have “1 Black,” “1 LGBTQ+” and “2 Veterans.” I’m not
Priyanjali Gupta, a fourth-year computer science student specializing in data science at the Vellore Institute of Technology, went viral on LinkedIn after using AI to translate American sign language (ASL). Gupta got the idea from her mom, who pushed her to put her engineering degree to good use. “She taunted me,” she told Interesting Engineering. “But it made me contemplate what I could do with my knowledge and skillset.” “The dataset is made manually by running the Image Collection Python file that collects images from your webcam for or all the mentioned below signs
Whether we’re talking about ChatGPT, AI lawyers or the chatbot that lets you chat with Tupac in real time – generative AI is taking the world by storm. But these systems are also reproducing many of the same biases we see in the real world – from sexist performance reviews to racist images. Leading AI ethicist Dr Timnit Gebru, known for her groundbreaking research on the risks of large language models, was forced forced out of her position as the co-head of Google’s AI ethics team after raising issues of
