In the interview, Nkonde discusses her journey into the AI field, her work in advocating for policies to reduce algorithmic bias, and the challenges she has faced in the male-dominated tech industry. She advises women seeking to enter the AI field to find a niche and excel in it. Nkonde also highlights the need for more Black and people of color in the building, testing, and annotating of foundational models, and emphasizes the importance of developing anti-bias technologies. She believes that AI development should be viewed as a geopolitical issue and that the US could become a leader in truly scalable AI.
Key takeaways:
- Mutale Nkonde, the founding CEO of the nonprofit AI For the People (AFP), is working to increase the amount of Black voices in tech and reduce the expression of Algorithmic Bias.
- Nkonde is proud of being the leading advocate of the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which guides the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems to comply with local nondiscrimination laws.
- She advises women seeking to enter the AI field to find a niche and become one of the best people in the world at it, and to address their deficiencies to build credibility.
- Nkonde believes that AI development should be viewed as a geopolitical issue and that the United States could become a leader in truly scalable AI by creating products that have high efficacy rates on people in every demographic group.