In the interview, Wachter discusses her journey into the AI field, her work on bias and fairness in AI, and the challenges she faced in the male-dominated tech industry. She advises women seeking to enter the AI field to find like-minded people and allies, and highlights the pressing issues facing AI, including biased data, opaque algorithms, and the potential for AI to contribute to misinformation and job loss. Wachter advocates for laws that demand responsible AI and believes that ethical AI can be profitable.
Key takeaways:
- TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews focusing on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution, including Sandra Wachter, a professor and senior researcher in data ethics, AI, robotics, algorithms and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute.
- Wachter's work focuses on the ethical and legal aspects of data science, including the harmful impact of enforcing many “group fairness” measures in practice, which can lead to discriminatory and unfair outcomes.
- She advises women seeking to enter the AI field to find like-minded people and allies, and emphasizes the importance of questioning the narrative that AI is an inevitable and unquestionable force.
- Wachter believes that regulation is key to responsible AI development, and that ethical AI can be not only legally and morally right, but also profitable.