Beena Ammanath: AI for the Greater Good
The incredibly inspirational Beena Ammanath, Founder and CEO of Humans for AI joined us in the latest episode of Popping the Bubbl.
Beena is an accomplished computer scientist that has been focused on data throughout her professional tech journey, leading to a variety of F100 executive positions managing data, developing business intelligence and leading into big data, AI and looking at data in different ways to drive positive business outcomes.
Beena is now focused on managing the coming AI wave with her non profit organization Humans for AI, which looks to create partnerships between domain experts in the fields that will be first impacted by artificial intelligence while its still in its infancy. Beena believes now is the time to shape AI how we want it to act and in a way that it wont go rogue which is everyone’s greatest nightmare.
Looking back at history, there have always been changes in how work is done. From the first industrial revolution to rise of the internet, humans have always worried that rising technologies would destroy jobs, but what actually happens is that new jobs are created replacing the old ones.
AI is a unique threat because it is competing with humans and we are making it smart. So the questions that arise are:
How do we address the complex relationship between technology and work?
Will AI creat jobs fast enough?
What skills do humans need to keep up?
How does this impact education?
Beena believes in the power of AI to automate the tasks that take humans excessive time to complete and thus enabling us to focus on the things we love. For example, something like a document search, which would take a paralegal months to do can be automated and completed in faster time using AI.
Looking back at history, automation has always improved our standard of living. This has always been true, and if we do AI right, it will be a powerful and positive force for humans.
That said, Beena feels we need to start thinking about re-skilling the workforce of today to work with machines of the future. That’s what she intends to do with Humans for AI which is also focused on fixing the diversity problem in tech by leveraging AI. By encouraging women and people of color to assume roles that can bridge the gap between AI and their respective domains, Beena feels these groups can become an important part of shaping AI for the future.
Diversity is a key tenet of Humans for AI, with a goal of broadening the pipeline of minorities currently in tech careers and specifically in AI, because diversity of thought and opinion ultimately builds better products. These are the domain experts that should be driving future AI products and putting the proper checks and balances into place.
No matter what your job is today, it will look slightly or significantly different in the future... AI will influence your job.
Humans for AI wants to shift the power balance from one of fear to empowerment. This happens by building a diverse community of AI and domain experts that can demystify the technology and make it easy for people to understand its impact. With 50 volunteers across verticals, Humans for AI is actively building bridges with the industry practitioners most likely to be impacted and establishing itself as the destination resource for all things AI. It plans to create a platform that allows for growth and discovery into this emerging tech field which will undoubtedly affect all of us in the very near future.
It was a great conversation, take a listen and enjoy!
For more info, visit the Humans for AI site, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
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