AI Models Need a Diverse Set of Humans Behind Them — Rapid7 VP for Data and AI

(US & Canada) Laura Ellis, VP – Data and AI at Rapid7, speaks with Asha Saxena, Founder and CEO at WLDA.tech in a video interview about the need for diversity in the people building AI and a key takeaway for AI entrepreneurs.

Ellis says that Wlda has done a beautiful job of bringing male leaders and female leaders together to start thinking about not just responsible AI, but what women leadership brings to the table. She explains that not just with AI, every discipline needs diversity --- female, male, race, religion, all across the board.

However, Ellis points out that AI has an added consideration because of the “black box” element. Even the creators of some of the latest LLMs, cannot exactly tell why or how they arrived at a response. Since these models impact every aspect of human lives today, Ellis stresses the need to have a diverse set of humans behind them to set guardrails in the data and in the way the models are applied. They need to apply both the scientific approach and the artistic approaches based on their life and lived experiences.

Next, Ellis goes on to speak about her experience as a mentor at WLDA Ventures, WLDA’s non-profit arm to support women entrepreneurs or women-founded companies developing or using AI models or data as the core for their startups. Ellis finds the founders inspiring especially in areas using AI for good and because of their different perspectives. She adds that she learned from other mentors in the circle as well.

So if you're listening and you want to, you have a startup applied to Builder Ventures, which is an accelerator program, it's WLDAVentures.

In conclusion, Ellis urges business users or technologists engaging AI to dare to dream - understand the problem they want to solve and then dream about how they would leverage AI to solve it.

CDO Magazine appreciates Laura Ellis for sharing her insights with our global community.