In 2020, the Europen Commission released a ground-breaking paper titled “On Artificial Intelligence – A European Approach to Excellence and Trust” and, while it sparked debates on regulation, technology and competition – one crucial aspect went largely unnoticed: the urgent need to prevent AI from perpetuating prohibited discrimination.
The issue has also been raised by Gabriela Ramos, the assistant DG for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO, during the World Economic Forum . Ramos highlights a critical concern – the exclusion of women at every stage of the AI lifecycle, leading to a gender gap that poses a significant risk: the creation of an immensely unequal economic and technological system in an era of rapid digitalisation.
The presence of gender bias is evident in the statistics and raises legitimate concerns about the potential reflection of this bias in AI systems. We must acknowledge the existence of this bias, recognise the significant risk it poses in further entrenching biased practices, and unite in our efforts to actively address and mitigate these biases, says Collard.
There are already several women raising red flags in this space. In an article published in the Gender, Technology and Development journal, Subadra Panchanadeswaran, a professor at the Adelphi University School of Social Work, and Ardra Manasi from the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University, raised concerns about gender bias in AI.
Ensuring that AI algorithms are free from bias and promote diversity is a fundamental objective according to Collard.