Five Inspiring Women Shaping the Future of AI
By: Camille Campbell
Women's History Month and rapid advances in AI are two topics you likely have been seeing on the news in March 2024. Behind the incredible strides made in AI, there are trailblazing women whose work has been paving the way for women in STEM, despite the challenges posed by the underrepresentation of women in STEM, where they constitute 35% of the workforce, and 4% of AI startup founders, female pioneers in AI are carving paths for future generations. The achievements of these women encourage a new generation of girls to aspire for greatness in the evolving landscape of AI technology.
1. Mira Murati: CTO at OpenAI
Mira Murati is an Albanian engineer who became the CTO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT (including the impressive text-to-image generator DALL-E and Sora, the AI video generator). Growing up in a small town in Albania during politically volatile times, she found solace in reading, doing math problems, and learning about the mysteries of the universe. Before OpenAI, Mira did impressive work at Tesla for the development of the ModelX. Though she’s only 35 years old and joined OpenAI at 29, she led the team that developed ChatGPT and is at the forefront of the mission to develop AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which could change technology as we know it.
“In a place where there is this constant regime change and everything is uncertain, I gravitated more towards the truth in science something that felt steady and you could get to the bottom of.”
2. Daniela Amodei: President and Co-founder of Anthropic
As President and Co-Founder of Anthropic, which has a valuation of over 18 billion dollars, Daniela is an AI leader who doesn't have a traditional technological background (she studied English Literature and played music in college before going into the field of political science). Daniela's story is particularly inspiring for girls who might gravitate towards arts and public policy, not realizing that those skills can add much-needed perspective to technology companies. Daniela is focused on the ethics of AI and instills this core value into Anthropic's culture.
"I think trust and safety is something that the market wants. We think this is the correct thing to do from a moral perspective, but it’s also good for business."
3. Fei-Fei Li: Co-Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
A world-renowned professor and AI expert, Chinese-born computer scientist Fei-Fei Li created ImageNet, a database for researchers that led to impressive advances in visual object recognition. Founder of the nonprofit AI4ALL, Fei-Fei is passionate about creating an inclusive environment in AI for people underrepresented in STEM and AI. Her latest book The Worlds I See carries the message of keeping "humanity at the centre" of AI innovation and sheds light on Fei-Fei's story about overcoming obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge.
"If We Want Machines to Think, We Need to Teach Them to See."
4. Rana el Kaliouby: Co-Founder and CEO of Affectiva
Raised in strict households in Egypt and Kuwait, Rana defied the odds and earned a PhD at Cambridge. As a single mother of two, she moved to the United States and decided to fearlessly pursue her vision of humanizing technology. On a mission to understand empathy and how it distinguishes us from machines, Rana el Kaliouby co-founded the company Affectiva and, following the AI company's acquisition for 47 million dollars, continues to inspire others with her courage and commitment to breaking the mold.
"We need to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us."
5. Daphne Koller: Co-Founder of Coursera and CEO of Insitro
Aside from founding one of the largest edtech companies, the inspiring female entrepreneur Daphne Koller has been utilizing AI in the process of drug discovery in her company, Insitro. Determined to improve patients' lives through AI innovations in the medical field, Daphne is optimistic about the impact that AI can have on bringing life-saving drugs to patients faster. Daphne knows the challenges of being a woman in STEM and is passionate about empowering underrepresented groups in the field of AI by creating a diverse team at Insitro.
"If you see unfairness, speak up."
Women at the forefront of AI innovation are not just transforming the technology landscape; they're also carving a path in the AI industry like Marie Curie once did in chemistry and Ada Lovelace in programming. Celebrating Women's History Month, girls need to remember that no matter where their strengths lie, they can and should be able to see themselves following their dreams. Whether becoming a researcher who makes strides in machine learning or opening an AI startup, there is room for women to make their mark in the world of technology.
