Written by Stella, Year 8
Recently I had the pleasure of attending an inspiring awards ceremony by the global initiative “She Shapes AI” focusing primarily on women in the field of artificial intelligence. The award winners were 6 female entrepreneurs, who shared their challenges, and successes in their journey, competing in the sections, AI and democracy, AI and peace, AI and learning, AI and nature, AI and media, and thought leadership in AI.
I had the exciting opportunity to listen to these wonderful acceptance speeches, as well as leading inspiring conversations with like minded individuals who are passionate about seeing so many women make such a grave impact in a field of STEM. Alicia Combaz, the winner of the AI and democracy section was the founder of an online platform that allows ten million european citizens to contribute to policy deliberations. Branka Panic, the winner of the AI and peace section, created an AI tool that teaches peace-keeping skills. Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, the winner of the AI in learning, created NightOwlGPT, an online platform that focuses on teaching endangered languages. Diana Gutierrez, who received the AI in nature award, talked about the environmental impact of using AI highlighting that although it is an online platform it generates substantial water waste. The recipient of the AI and media award was Jenny Romano, who fights to avoid misinformation in AI through the platform she created called NewsRoom. Lastly, Dr. Elizabeth M.Adams won the thought leadership in AI award. She wants to show how AI can be used responsibly. The event was under the auspices of the AI summit.
Press were present, specifically the Financial Times. There were 33 finalists in the various categories of awards, with 65 women acting as delegates. I was left with an impression of enthusiasm amongst the women attending for the opportunity to learn about each other’s work. What is important to take note of was that these women were both technical and non-technical, which is significant because so far the assumption has been that the field of AI is led by those who know how to code, but I found out that was not the case. We can make contributions even if our coding skills are limited. This is because today’s AI tools have lowered the threshold for participating.