This article is a part of the Invest with Women: Strategies to Accelerate Progress series.

In an era where advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have caused excitement and AI-powered tools are increasingly influencing every aspect of our lives, it rightly underscores the need to ensure the fairness and responsibility of these systems, not only from a technical perspective but a moral and ethical imperative. The worries and fears about AI are widespread and real. We often see in the news that even technology giants fall prey to AI tools that discriminate, have too much autonomy that results in unintended outcomes, and disregard intellectual property rights.

We have seen that leaders in social impact organizations are uniquely positioned to leverage the power of AI to drive social impact and transform the global economy. However, with this vast potential comes the responsibility to ensure that AI benefits humanity and aligns with core values of ethics, fairness, transparency, and accountability—encompassing the definition of responsible AI. By implementing responsible AI practices, impact organizations can build trust among stakeholders, improve business intelligence and decision-making support, as well as create inclusive solutions that drive global change. In 2023, we worked with a social enterprise in Kenya that offers an online community platform that connects young entrepreneurs in the informal sector, equipping them with business, financial, and digital skills to build more resilient businesses that are better positioned for growth.

During our engagement, we embarked on a journey to infuse gender sensitivity into every aspect of the organization’s community platform, recognizing that achieving true gender equality requires intentional action. Our work included (i) conducting an audit of the platform data points for quality, completeness, and gender imbalances, (ii) defining gender fairness in practice, including key priorities and trade-offs to enable criterion definitions, and (iii) assessing feasibility (technical and operational requirements) against impact/value addition to guide institutionalization of the priority use cases. Such endeavors not only amplify the voices of women entrepreneurs but also lay the foundation for building inclusive economies and fostering a healthier planet for generations to come. 

“Empowering female data scientists is pivotal for developing fair and equitable AI applications. As an AI and data scientist team, we are very intentional about how we bring people on board, to build equitable and inclusive AI. Our gender equal team with a 50:50 male:female ratio is a result of this commitment.”