El laberinto de los espejos de la igualdad, diversidad e inclusión en la inteligencia artificial (The hall of mirrors of equality, diversity and inclusion in artificial intelligence)

Equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and ethics are buzzwords, like AI itself. Whilst ‘EDI in AI’ and ‘Ethics in AI’ events multiply, less people from disadvantaged communities and vulnerable contexts opt to study AI-related degrees. ‘Women in AI’ events proliferate, as more women express a desire to leave their jobs in academia, science and technology. Numbers are clear: less than 20% of technical workers in companies are women and only 22% of professionals working in AI around the world are female. The numbers are dramatic if we add other attributes, like race and disadvantaged backgrounds. For example, less than 2% of the workforce in technology are women of colour. AI is typically run by privileged communities, especially in academia where there is bias against disadvantaged backgrounds. More underrepresented communities are needed in AI. Everybody must be included. If the goal is to shape the future of AI and technological progress, a humane new perspective is needed to find solutions to these problems. The solutions cannot be superficial, which has been the case so far, otherwise the long-standing iniquities of tokenism, vicious circles of privilege and hostile working environments will be perpetuated. Currently, biases are masked within biases in algorithms. Algorithms and data are just a reflection of what we are as humans and what the sector is. This talk shows why we need to challenge the current voices on equality, diversity, inclusion and ethics, and provoke a profound debate on the current status quo. A transformative viewpoint is presented with some ideas for positive change and democratisation of AI-related areas.