Gender Bias in Artificial Intelligence

As the world celebrates Women's Day, there is no better time than now to analyse the forces that will affect gender parity. With the digital revolution accelerating and the future of work becoming more complex, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a tool with the potential to help or hinder the equity agenda

Aparna Gupta

AI or Artificial Intelligence is a technology that is transforming every waking minute. This powerful tool allows people to rethink how information is integrated, data is analysed, and insights are used to improve decision-making. Due to its rapid growth, it has the potential to offer new opportunities for gender equality in the workplace. However, at the same time, it can also aggravate gender stereotypes, sexism, and discrimination on the job.

Amazon receives more than 200 thousand resumes annually for their various job roles, and Google, on the other hand, gets over 2 million resumes each year. Imagine having to weed through all that? It sounds like a nightmare! However, the modern age makes this seem like a task that could be handled by a program that processes resume almost instantly. Yes, you guessed it right: Artificial Intelligence. In fact, the same approach has been tried and tested by companies like Amazon and Google in the past, though their results were not as expected.

Now you may ask, "How can a machine be gender-biased?" Well, to answer your question, AI is based on a set of rules called algorithms that use large data sets to make predictions, identify patterns, and recommend action. During the course of time, AI functions automatically as the foundation of the system is laid by creators whose inherent gender biases, if any, may affect the development of the system. It, in turn, can also result in an artificial intelligence application making biased decisions regarding certain groups of people, specifically women. Therefore it is critical that we closely observe its decisions.

In addition to being some of the most popular artificial intelligence in the world, Alexa, Siri, and Cortana are also named after women with men as their developers. A study by Deloitte published in 2021 shows that women make up just 26 per cent of AI workers in the US. Further, it also suggests that more than 57 per cent of women leave their employers because of discrimination. Hence, it is safe to say that AI reflects gender inequalities. An example of gender bias was when the Apple health app was released; it had the ability to track every piece of data you could think of, except it failed to track women's menstrual cycle. Furthermore, an Apple application in 2019 offered women with comparable credit scores a smaller credit line than men. In its defence, the company said its algorithm was gender-blind but also admitted that the algorithms used to set limits were inherently biased toward women.

Our daily lives rely on artificial intelligence, whether it is Netflix recommending movies, Uber taking us to our destination, Spotify finding the newest music available, or our phones recognising our faces. With it understanding so much of our needs and tracking our behaviour, people are of the belief that in years to come, machine learning is about to take over and steal our jobs. But if you ask me, I believe that we can use the power of machines and computers to our advantage. Having said that, like in most areas of life, women are underrepresented in the world of Artificial Intelligence. In the past, 3 per cent of women have won Nobel prizes in science, and 12 per cent of AI researchers are women. It should go without saying that diversity should never be an option. It should be a priority. Women should be valued, empowered, given centre stage, and encouraged. Statistical studies show that a diverse team leads to a 30 per cent increase in a team's productivity.

With COVID-19 accelerating the growth of digitisation, one thing is for sure, AI and machine learning will take off at an unprecedented speed. From Healthcare and finance to education and government, every area of our lives will be transformed in the coming years. Therefore, it is troubling to think that the people shaping these technologies do not reflect fully the society they are poised to transform. According to Gartner, "85 per cent of AI projects in 2022 will deliver incorrect results because of bias in data, algorithms, or the teams managing them." After all these, it may not come as a surprise that only three women in history have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Having said that, I aspire to live in a world where there is no discrimination based on geography, race, language, and certainly not gender, where everyone is given an equal opportunity when it comes to obtaining knowledge and training, where there are no biased judgments. We can all contribute to diversity by supporting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and giving young girls the chance to explore their passion and interest in these fields. Another obvious step is to look for ways to increase women's roles in these services. Although much still needs to be done, I believe that a balance will be achieved in the field of artificial intelligence and that articles about "Gender Bias in Artificial Intelligence" will simply be a thing of the past.

By Ms. Aparna Gupta, Managing Director, Evolve Digitas

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