Updated on December 1, 2021.
On Thursday, December 2nd, the Women in AI Ethics Annual Summit will bring together a powerful line up of “AI Changemakers” at the frontlines of a fierce battle to make the AI and tech industry more inclusive and equitable.
These changemakers include much respected and admired AI scholar Dr. Timnit Gebru who will unveil her new independent AI research institute, which is part of her mission to free AI research from pervasive tech influence.
These changemakers include much respected and admired AI scholar Dr. Timnit Gebru who will unveil her new independent AI research institute, which is part of her mission to free AI research from pervasive tech influence.
Jennifer Lee from ACLU of Washington and Eleni Manis, Research Director at S.T.O.P. will share how their two organizations are fighting harms from the surveillance state — automated decision systems, predictive policing tools, and facial recognition systems. In a very short time, Foxglove has built an impressive track record for holding big tech and governments to account in the U.K. Cori Crider, co-founder of Foxglove will join this stellar line up to discuss the effectiveness of litigation as a strategy to fight big tech.
Big Tech has made many attempts at self-governance and one such approach has been to create Oversight Boards with external representatives. In this session we have invited Julie Owono from the official Facebook Oversight Board for an open discussion about the usefulness of these boards and to discuss some of their limitations.
Sex workers have a lot to teach us about privacy, data, censorship, communication, and surveillance. They are always the first movers on technology platforms but are also the first to be booted off when a given platform gets popular. Savannah Sly, a leading sex worker rights advocate and gender justice advocate will share how they are fighting harms to their community from constant targeting by biased algorithms and facial recognition.
Ifeoma Ozoma, Founder and Principal of Earthseed will close out this inspiring event with a discussion on how to protect whistleblowers and support their fight for greater tech accountability. Ifeomo is a former employee at Pinterest, Facebook, and Google, who courageously broke her NDA to share her experience with wage discrimination and retaliation in her workplace. She is also the catalyst for a bill that limits nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements, which was signed into law in California.
Mia Shah-Dand, Founder of Women in AI Ethics™ shared, “There are many different pathways to tech accountability, but good intentions and eloquent speeches are not enough. It’s time to move away from ‘feel-good’ conversations and move towards concrete actions. These AI changemakers are showing us in real time how we can win the fight for a more diverse and ethical tech future.”
Co-sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Omidyar Network, this event will also unveil the “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics” list for 2022. First published in 2018, this list is now published annually to recognize the underrepresented and overlooked diverse voices in this field. For the very first time, a “Rising Stars in AI Ethics” list will also be announced this year to highlight the promising new and upcoming diverse talent in this space.
“Omidyar Network and the Ford Foundation are committed to listening to and celebrating the contributions of women and other people who have been marginalized and traditionally underrepresented in conversations about tech ethics and AI. Their contributions have shaped the field and are critical to realizing our vision of a more responsible tech ecosystem.” said Michele Jawando, SVP-Programs, Omidyar Network.
About Women in AI Ethics:
Women in AI Ethics (WAIE) is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Good Fund, a California nonprofit corporation and registered 501(c)(3) organization, with a mission to increase recognition, representation, and empowerment of brilliant women in this space. All activities are supported by sponsorships, donations, and ticket sales. These funds are used for mission-aligned activities, which include but are not limited to providing a free online AI Ethics talent directory, hosting community events, and funding other initiatives to support women and non-binary folks in this space.
Additional information:
Event Website: https://womeninaiethics.org/ai-changemakers/
