Tech's diversity crisis is baking bias into AI systems
AI needs her, experts and observers say.
Built-in viewpoints and bias, unintentionally imbued by its creators, can make the fast-growing digital tool risky as it is used to make significant decisions in areas such as hiring processes, health care, finance and law enforcement, they warn.
"I'm interested in a career in AI because I want to ensure that marginalized communities are protected from and informed on the dangers and risks of AI and also understand how they can benefit from it," said De Los Santos, a first-generation U.S. college student.
"This unfairness and prejudice that exists in society is being replicated in the AI brought into very high stakes scenarios and environment, and it's being trusted, without more critical thinking."
Women represent 26% of the AI workforce, according to a UNESCO report, and men hold 80% of tenured faculty positions at university AI departments globally.
Blacks and Hispanics also are underrepresented in the AI workforce, a 2022 census data analysis by Georgetown University showed.
Among AI technical occupations, Hispanics held about 9% of jobs, compared with holding more than 18% of U.S. jobs overall, it said. Black workers held about 8% of the technical AI jobs, compared with holding nearly 12% of U.S. jobs overall, it said.
AI bias
De Los Santos will soon begin a PhD program in human computer interaction at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bias has unintentionally seeped into some AI systems as software engineers, for example, who are creating problem-solving techniques integrate their own perspectives and often-limited data sets. |
reuters
She said she wants to learn not only how to educate marginalized communities on AI technology but to understand privacy issues and AI bias, also called algorithm or machine learning bias, that produces results that reflect and perpetuate societal biases.
Bias has unintentionally seeped into some AI systems as software engineers, for example, who are creating problem-solving techniques integrate their own perspectives and often-limited data sets.
Amazon scrapped an AI recruiting tool when it found it was selecting resumes favoring men over women. The system had been trained to vet applicants by observing patterns in resumes submitted to the company over a 10-year period.
Most came from men, a reflection of a preponderance of men across the industry, and the system in effect taught itself that male candidates were preferable.
"When people from a broader range of life experiences, identities and backgrounds help shape AI, they're more likely to identify different needs, ask different questions and apply AI in new ways," said Tess Posner, founding CEO of AI4ALL, a non-profit working to develop an inclusive pipeline of AI professionals.
"Inclusion makes the solutions created by AI more relevant to more people," said Posner.
Promoting diversity
AI4ALL counts De Los Santos as one of the 7,500 students it has helped navigate the barriers to getting a job in AI since 2015.
By targeting historically underrepresented groups, the nonprofit aims to diversify the AI workforce.
AI engineer jobs are one of the fastest growing positions globally and the fastest growing overall in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, according to LinkedIn.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on AI at the White House in January. |
reuters
Posner said promoting diversity means starting early in education by expanding access to computer science classes for children.
About 60% of public high schools offer such classes with Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans less likely to have access.
Ensuring that students from underrepresented groups know about AI as a potential career, creating internships and aligning them with mentors is critical, she said.
Efforts to make AI more representative of American society are colliding with U.S. President Donald Trump's backlash against Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government, higher education and corporate levels.
DEI offices and programs in the U.S. government have been terminated and federal contractors banned from using affirmative action in hiring. Companies from Goldman Sachs to PepsiCo have halted or cut back diversity programs.
Safiya Noble, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles and founder of the Center on Resilience & Digital Justice, said she worries the government's attack on DEI will undermine efforts to create opportunities in AI for marginalized groups.
"One of the ways to repress any type of progress on civil rights is to make the allegation that tech and social media companies have been too available to the messages of civil rights and human rights," said Noble.
"You see the evidence with their backlash against movements like Blacks Lives Matter and allegations of anti-conservative bias," she said.
Globally, from 2021 to 2024, UNESCO says the number of women working in AI increased by just 4%.
While progress may be slow, Posner said she is optimistic.
"There's been a lot of commitment to these values of inclusion,' she said.
"I don't think that's changed, even if as a society, we are wrestling with what inclusion really means and how to do that across the board."
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Japan Times
14 hours ago
- Japan Times
The AI race has Big Tech spending $344 billion this year
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"On advertising, the strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system,' Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on an analyst call. Zuckerberg has plans to build several massive data centers and has been luring top AI researchers with compensation packages valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. The company recently restructured its internal AI division, now referred to as Meta Superintelligence Labs, in an effort to build human-level AI capabilities and apply that technology across its products. Shares of the company have gained more than 8% since it reported earnings on Wednesday. Amazon, on the other hand, failed to convince investors that its lavish spending has been worth it. The stock was down as much as 8.1% on Friday after the company reported tepid sales from its cloud division. The results were "especially disappointing' given the strong performance from Google's and Microsoft's own cloud services, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during an event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in September 2023. | Reuters And the ongoing capital costs won't help. The operating margin for Amazon's cloud unit will continue to face pressure "through 2026 as capital spending ramps up,' BI analysts Poonam Goyal and Anurag Rana said. Alphabet's shares are essentially unchanged from last week when it reported earnings and issued guidance. The company raised its capital expenditures outlook by $10 billion and expects to ramp up spending even more in 2026. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai explained that the investments are necessary to keep up with customer demand. "Obviously, we are seeing strong momentum across our portfolio, and especially in cloud,' Pichai told analysts in a call on July 23. "It's a tight supply environment, and we are investing more to expand.' Nikhil Lai, an analyst at Forrester, put it another way: If Google wants to keep up with rivals, he said, it has little choice but to follow suit: "Google's hand is forced by OpenAI to spend tremendously on AI's infrastructure and applications.' Microsoft tied its AI investments directly to a 39% jump in sales for its Azure cloud-computing division, which came in ahead of analysts' estimates. "We continue to lead the AI infrastructure wave and took share every quarter this year,' Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a call with analysts on Wednesday. "In Microsoft's case, the returns are good,' Gil Luria, an analyst with DA Davidson & Co., said in an interview. The only question now is whether Microsoft's customers are in turn seeing a decent return on investment, he said. "That's where the test will be,' he said. "If they don't, they're not going to increase that spend next year.' Apple's capital plans pale in comparison to its Big Tech peers. But the iPhone-maker did raise its spending estimates, tying much of the increase to AI efforts. Apple's property, plant and equipment investments totaled $9.47 billion in the nine months ended June 28, up nearly 45% from a year ago. "You are going to continue to see our capex grow,' Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh told analysts on Thursday. "It's not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow, substantially. And a lot of that's a function of the investments we're making in AI.'
Japan Times
16 hours ago
- Japan Times
Europe is breaking its reliance on American science
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As those cuts take effect, European officials have expressed increasing alarm that — without continued access to U.S.-supported weather and climate data — governments and businesses will face challenges in planning for extreme weather events and long-term infrastructure investment. In March, more than a dozen European countries urged the European Commission to move fast to recruit American scientists who lose their jobs to those cuts. Asked for comment on NOAA cuts and the EU's moves to expand its own collection of scientific data, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said Trump's proposed cuts to the agency's 2026 budget were aimed at programs that spread "fake Green New Scam 'science,'" a reference to climate change research and policy. "Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. is funding real science again,' Rachel Cauley, an OMB spokesperson, said via email. European officials said that — beyond the risk of losing access to data that is bedrock to the world's understanding of climate change and marine systems — they were concerned by the general U.S. pullback from research. "The current situation is much worse than we could have expected," said Sweden's State Secretary for Education and Research Maria Nilsson. "My reaction is, quite frankly, shock." The Danish Meteorological Institute described the U.S. government data as "absolutely vital" — and said it relied on several data sets to measure including sea ice in the Arctic and sea surface temperatures. "This isn't just a technical issue, reliable data underpins extreme weather warnings, climate projections, protecting communities and ultimately saves lives," said Adrian Lema, director of the DMI's National Center for Climate Research. Officials from eight European countries, who said their governments were undertaking reviews of their reliance on U.S. marine, climate and weather data, were interviewed. Officials from seven countries — Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden — described joint efforts now in the early stages to safeguard key health and climate data and research programs. Leaning on the U.S. As a priority, the EU is expanding its access to ocean observation data, a senior European Commission official said. Those data sets are seen as critical to the shipping and energy industries as well as early storm warning systems. Over the next two years, the senior official said, the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network which collects and hosts data on shipping routes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other concerns. The initiative was aimed at "mirroring and possibly replacing U.S.-based services," the senior European Commission official said. Europe is particularly concerned about its vulnerability to U.S. funding cuts to NOAA's research arm that would affect the Global Ocean Observing System, a network of ocean observation programs that supports navigation services, shipping routes and storm forecasting, a second EU official said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center in Miami earlier this year. About 800 of NOAA's 12,000-strong workers have been terminated or taken financial incentives to resign as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency cuts. | Reuters The insurance industry relies on the Global Ocean Observing System's disaster records for risk modelling. Coastal planners use shoreline, sea-level, and hazard data to guide infrastructure investments. The energy industry uses oceanic and seismic datasets to assess offshore drilling or wind farm viability. In addition, the senior EU Commission official said, the EU is considering increasing its funding of the Argo program, a part of the Global Ocean Observing System which operates a global system of floats to monitor the world's oceans and track global warming, extreme weather events and sea-level rise. NOAA last year described the program, in operation for over 25 years, as the "crown jewel" of ocean science. It makes its data freely available to the oil and gas industry, marine tourism and other industries. The United States funds 57% of Argo's $40 million annual operating expenses, while the EU funds 23%. The White House and NOAA did not respond to questions about future support for that program. The European moves to establish independent data collection and play a bigger role in Argo represent a historic break with decades of U.S. leadership in ocean science, said Craig McLean, who retired in 2022 after four decades at the agency. He said U.S. leadership of weather, climate and marine data collection was unmatched, and that through NOAA, the U.S. has paid for more than half of the world's ocean measurements. European scientists acknowledge the outsize role the U.S. government has played in global scientific research and data collection — and that European countries have grown overly dependent on that work. "It's a bit like defense: we rely heavily on the U.S. in that area, too. They're trailblazers and role models — but that also makes us dependent on them," said Katrin Boehning-Gaese, scientific director of Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. 'Guerilla Archivists' A number of European governments are now taking measures to reduce that dependence. Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts in the spring, said Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland. European science ministers also discussed the U.S. science budget cuts at a meeting in Paris in May. 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Between April and June, NOAA announced on its website the decommissioning of 20 datasets or products related to earthquakes and marine science. NOAA did not respond to requests for comment. Gloeckner said there were no legal hurdles to storing the U.S. government data as it was already in the public domain. But without significant funds and infrastructure, there are limits to what private scientists can save, said Denice Ross, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, a nonprofit science policy group and the U.S. government's chief data officer during the administration of President Joe Biden. Databases need regular updating — which requires the funding and infrastructure that only governments can provide, Ross said. Over the last few months, the federation and EU officials have held a series of talks with European researchers, U.S. philanthropies and health and environment advocacy groups to discuss how to prioritize what data to save. 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Yomiuri Shimbun
19 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
China Is Betting on a Real-World Use of AI to Challenge U.S. Control
SHANGHAI – As the United States and China vie for control over the future of artificial intelligence, Beijing has embarked on an all-out drive to transform the technology from a remote concept to a newfangled reality, with applications on factory floors and in hospitals and government offices. China does not have access to the most advanced chips required to power cutting-edge models due to restrictions from Washington and is still largely playing catch-up with Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI. But experts say Beijing is pursuing an alternative playbook in an attempt to bridge the gap: aggressively pushing for the adoption of AI across the government and private sector. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.) 'In China, there's definitely stronger government support for applications and a clear mandate from the central government to diffuse the technology through society,' said Scott Singer, an expert on China's AI sector at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. By contrast, the U.S. has been more focused on developing the most advanced AI models while 'the application layer has been totally ignored,' he said. China's push was on full display in Shanghai at its World Artificial Intelligence Conference, which ran until Tuesday. Themed 'Global Solidarity in the AI Era,' the expo is one part of Beijing's bid to establish itself as a responsible AI leader for the international community. This pitch was bolstered by the presence of international heavyweights like Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, and Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned AI researcher often called the 'Godfather of AI.' During the event, Beijing announced an international organization for AI regulation and a 13-point action plan aimed at fostering global cooperation to ensure the technology's beneficial and responsible development. 'China attaches great importance to global AI governance,' Li Qiang, China's premier, said at the opening ceremony on Saturday. It 'is willing to share its AI development experience and technological products to help countries around the world – especially those in the Global South,' he said, according to an official readout. Just last week, President Donald Trump announced a competing plan in a bid to boost American AI competitiveness by reducing regulation and promoting global exports of U.S. AI technology. Washington has moved in recent years to restrict China's access to chips necessary for AI development, in part due to concerns about potential military applications of such models and degrading U.S. tech leadership. The Trump administration's approach to chip policy, however, has been mixed. Earlier this month, the White House reversed a previous ban on specific AI chips made by U.S. tech giant Nvidia being exported to China. This shift occurred amid trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies, which have been locked in an escalating tariff and export control war since Trump returned to the Oval Office earlier this year. There was nothing but excitement about AI in the vast expo center in Shanghai's skyscraper-rich Pudong district, where crowds entered gates controlled by facial recognition. Inside, thousands of attendees listened to panels stacked with Chinese government officials, entrepreneurs and international researchers, or watched demonstrations on using AI to create video games, control robotic movements and respond in real time to conversations via smartglasses. Chinese giants like Huawei and Alibaba and newer Chinese tech darlings like Unitree Robotics were there. DeepSeek was not present, but its name was spoken everywhere. The Hangzhou-based upstart has been at the forefront of Beijing's attempt to push the government use of AI since it released a chatbot model in January, prompting a global craze and driving home China's rapid AI advances. DeepSeek has been put to work over the last six months on a wide variety of government tasks. Procurement documents show military hospitals in Shaanxi and Guangxi provinces specifically requesting DeepSeek to build online consultation and health record systems. Local government websites describe state organs using DeepSeek for things like diverting calls from the public and streamlining police work. DeepSeek helps 'quickly discover case clues and predict crime trends,' which 'greatly improves the accuracy and timeliness of crime fighting,' a city government in China's Inner Mongolia region explained in a February social media post. Anti-corruption investigations – long a priority for Chinese leader Xi Jinping – are another frequent DeepSeek application, in which models are deployed to comb through dry spreadsheets to find suspicious irregularities. In April, China's main anti-graft agency even included a book called 'Efficiently Using DeepSeek' on its official book recommendation list. China's new AI action plan underscores this push, declaring that the 'public sector should take the lead in deploying applications' by embedding AI in education, transportation and health care. It also emphasizes a mandate to use AI 'to empower the real economy' and praises open-source models – which are more easily shared – as an egalitarian method of AI development. Alfred Wu, an expert on China's public governance at the National University of Singapore, said Beijing has disseminated a 'top-down' directive to local governments to use AI. This is motivated, Wu said, by a desire to improve China's AI prowess amid a fierce rivalry with Washington by providing models access to vast stores of government data. But not everyone is convinced that China has the winning hand, even as it attempts to push AI application nationwide. For one, China's sluggish economy will affect the AI industry's ability to grow and access funding, said Singer, who was attending the conference. Beijing has struggled to manage persistent deflation and a property crisis, which has taken a toll on the finances of many families across the country. 'So much of China's AI policy is shaped by the state of the economy. The economy has been struggling for a few years now, and applications are one way of catalyzing much-needed growth,' he said. 'The venture capital ecosystem in AI in China has gone dry.' Others point out that local governments trumpeting their usage of DeepSeek is more about signaling than real technology uptake. Shen Yang, a professor at Tsinghua University's school of artificial intelligence, said DeepSeek is not being used at scale in anti-corruption work, for example, because the cases involve sensitive information and deploying new tools in these investigations requires long and complex approval processes. He also pointed out that AI is still a developing technology with lots of kinks. 'AI hallucinations still exist,' he said, using a term for the technology's generation of false or misleading information. 'If it's wrong, who takes responsibility?' These concerns, however, felt far away in the expo's humming hallways. At one booth, Carter Hou, the co-founder of Halliday, a smartglasses company, explained how the lenses project a tiny black screen at the top of a user's field of vision. The screen can provide translation, recordings and summaries of any conversation, and even deploy 'proactive AI,' which anticipates questions based on a user's interactions and provides information preemptively. 'For example, if you ask me a difficult question that is fact related,' Hou said, wearing the trendy black frames, 'all I need to do is look at it and use that information and pretend I'm a very knowledgeable person.' Asked about the event's geopolitical backdrop, Hou said he was eager to steer clear of diplomatic third rails. 'People talk a lot about the differences between the United States and China,' he said. 'But I try to stay out of it as much as possible, because all we want to do is just to build good products for our customers. That's what we think is most important.' Kiki Lei, a Shanghai resident who started an AI video company and attended the conference on Sunday, seemed to agree with this goal. She said that Chinese AI products are easier to use than U.S. products because companies here really 'know how to create new applications' and excel at catering to, and learning from, the large pool of Chinese technology users. Robots, perhaps the most obvious application of AI in the real world, were everywhere at the conference – on model factory floors and in convenience stores retrieving soda cans, shaking disbelieving kids' hands, or just roaming the packed halls. At the booth for ModelBest, another Beijing-based AI start-up, a young student from China's prestigious Tsinghua University, who was interning at the company, demonstrated how a robot could engage with its surroundings – and charm its human interlocutors. Looking directly at the student, the robot described his nondescript clothing. 'The outfit is both stylish and elegant,' the robot continued. 'You have a confident and friendly demeanor, which makes you very attractive.'
