Women Shaping AI

Zhang Linghan, Ph.D., serves as a professor at the Institute of Data Law, oversees doctoral students at the China University of Political Science and Law, and is a visiting scholar at Cornell University. Her research extensively covers cyberspace law and algorithmic governance, and she is a member of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI. For several years, she has engaged in legislative advisory efforts concerning laws related to algorithm regulation, platform governance, data security, and artificial intelligence governance China.

Photo Credit: World Economic Forum

Malaysian-born data scientist Kavita Ganesan, Ph.D., has significantly contributed to natural language processing and machine learning. She is the author of The Business Case for AI, a guide for organizations on effective AI implementation. Ganesan also founded Opinosis Analytics, which focuses on AI strategies for optimizing business performance.

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Saffron Huang and Divya Siddarth co-founded the Collective Intelligence Project, which, in 2023, worked with Anthropic to run a public input process involving ~1,000 Americans to draft a constitution for an AI system called Constitutional AI. The Collective Intelligence Project advocates for harnessing AI to enhance collective intelligence and improve cooperative efforts, ensuring that transformative technologies serve the public interest. In 2024, Siddarth delivered a TED talk on how AI and democracy can fix each other.

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As the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Dr. Lisa Su has spearheaded a remarkable company turnaround, establishing it as a significant player in the semiconductor industry. An American businesswoman born in Taiwan, she has overseen substantial technological advancements and financial growth at AMD, especially in AI and specialized chips. In 2024, she was named Time’s CEO of the Year.

In a conversation with the Harvard Business Review, Su said: “We’re consistently trying to drive more gender diversity, as well as overall diversity, and the reason for that, frankly, is we want to build the best business and products. To do that, you need a diversity of experiences and thoughts. The best thing we can do is give people opportunities. So what I’m focused on is giving women more exposure to the industry and then chances to shine and demonstrate their capabilities.”

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Chinese-American computer scientist Dr. Fei-Fei Li is one of the most prominent figures in AI research. As a professor at Stanford and co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute, Li’s work in computer vision has been foundational in shaping modern AI. Her research has been cited more than 100,000 times, earning her the “godmother of AI” moniker. In September 2024, her research paid off. Her World Labs startup raised $230 million.

Li champions an interdisciplinary approach to AI development, emphasizing the ethical implications of machine learning. “The way we understand the structure of the world, imagined or real, will fundamentally be a piece of this AI puzzle,” she notes, highlighting the need for contextual intelligence in AI systems.

Read Dr. Fei-Fei Li’s memoir: The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

Photo Credit: Steve Jurvetson

A pioneering Italian computer scientist, Luigia Carlucci Aiello, has been instrumental in AI research. She founded the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA) in 1988 and served as its first president, significantly advancing AI research and education in Italy. Watch this video to learn about the birth of AI in Italy from Luigia herself.

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Dr. Emilia Gómez is the principal investigator at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and leads AI Watch, an initiative that tracks AI advancements, implementation, and effects throughout Europe. With a diverse background in music and technology, she adopts a human-centric and ethical perspective on AI development. Gómez’s efforts guarantee that AI policies in the European Union are rooted in scientific research and reflect societal needs.

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Sasha Luccioni is a researcher and climate lead at Hugging Face, where she works on AI sustainability. Her work aims to ensure that machine learning models are developed with environmental impact in mind. She advocates for responsible AI development that prioritizes reducing carbon footprints while supporting technological progress. Her TED talk AI is dangerous, but not for the reasons you think has garnered nearly 2 million views.

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Named by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people in AI in 2024, Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D., is a fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation. Her research focuses on how African governments can facilitate effective AI and data governance and analyzes African datafication and algorithmic marginalization. She is a consulting expert with the African Union and a drafting member of the Nigerian Federal Government’s National AI Strategy.

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Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Ghanaian parents, computer scientist Joy Buolamwini has been at the forefront of the fight against AI bias. As the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Buolamwini’s work has exposed racial and gender biases in widely used facial recognition systems.

In her MIT Thesis, Gender Shades, Buolamwini looked at how gender classification systems from leading tech companies performed across a range of skin types and genders: “All systems performed better on male faces than female faces overall, and all systems performed better on lighter-skinned faces than darker-skinned faces overall. Error rates were as high as 35% for darker-skinned women, 12% for darker-skinned men, 7% for lighter-skinned women, and no more than 1% for lighter-skinned men,” she found.

Her research has influenced tech companies, compelling them, in some cases, to revise their facial recognition algorithms to reduce discrimination. She underscores the need for vigilance, saying, “AI systems, like humans, can have biases. We need to be intentional about making them inclusive.”

Photo Credit: Joy Buolamwini

Chenai Chair, a Zimbabwean researcher and advocate for digital rights, is another critical voice in AI policy and governance in Africa. She has worked extensively in technology research and gender equity, focusing on how AI affects marginalized communities. Chair emphasizes the importance of locally driven AI solutions, ensuring that AI development in Africa prioritizes ethical considerations and real-world impact.

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Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, an Egyptian-American computer scientist, co-founded Affectiva, an MIT Media Lab spin-off that pioneered Emotion AI technology. As CEO, she expanded the application of AI that interprets human emotions across industries worldwide. In 2021, Affectiva was acquired by Smart Eye, where she now serves as Deputy CEO, continuing her dedication to advancing ethical AI development and deployment.

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Dr. Marwa Soudi is using AI to revolutionize education. She has developed AI-driven tutoring systems tailored for under-resourced schools in Upper Egypt. By providing personalized learning experiences, these systems help bridge the educational gap for girls and marginalized communities, proving AI’s potential for social impact. In a talk on “Responsible Green AI,” she also emphasizes the importance of integrating environmental considerations into artificial intelligence development.

“By aligning AI development with environmental sustainability, we can create technologies that benefit both humanity and the Earth,” says Dr. Soudi.

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Nour Naim, Ph.D., leads AI Minds Academy, which has trained more than 450 young people in AI literacy, coding, and robotics. Her emphasis on the effects of AI on vulnerable populations has established her as an essential voice in international AI governance discussions.

“We must ensure AI technologies are developed and used in ways that uphold human dignity and rights,” she argues, advocating for stronger AI regulations and ethical frameworks.

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Laura Velásquez Herrera co-founded and chairs Arkangel AI, a Colombian startup that has developed an AI application to detect diseases early. Motivated by personal loss due to late diagnoses, Velásquez’s company seeks to improve healthcare outcomes by leveraging artificial intelligence for timely medical interventions.

“I had to understand not only the core of the business but also the industry, how this world works, and the barriers that exist,” she told BBVA Spark. “As a woman, I went through many difficult moments that made me feel insecure: at the beginning, when we were seeking investment, they would say no because I was a woman.”

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Gabriela Salas, who comes from Puerto del Caballo, Hidalgo, Mexico, has made significant contributions to recognizing and preserving Indigenous languages by incorporating Náhuatl, which is spoken by 1.6 million people in Mexico, into Google Translate.

“I want Nahuatl speakers to have the same opportunities to access information and communicate in the digital world,” she explained in an interview with El Pais.

Photo Credit: Josué Ortiz

Paola Ricaurte Quijano, a Mexican-Ecuadorian scholar at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and a faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, is a leading voice in AI ethics. She studies how AI systems reproduce colonial biases, advocating for decolonized technology that serves marginalized communities.

Ricaurte has warned of the risks posed by unchecked AI deployment, stating, “The big tech companies are allies of authoritarian governments.”

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