It’s been 20 years since Shira Yevin, the lead singer of punk band Shiragirl drove a pink RV into the Vans Warped Tour grounds, the now-defunct punk rock festival notorious for being male-dominated.
After Shiragirl Stage, Yevin went on a “lifelong crusade for carving out a space for women in music and other male-dominated industries,” she told TechCrunch.
This began with the launch of Gritty in Pink in 2020, a Live Nation-backed platform designed to empower women in the music industry.
Like freelance platforms Fiverr and Upwork, users can publish listings to highlight their services on InPink’s marketplace and connect with major brands.
Yevin said InPink is already working with one sports client, Angel City Football Club (the LA-based women’s soccer league), to help them hire talent for pre-shows.
TechCrunch has kept readers informed regarding Fearless Fund’s courtroom battle to provide business grants to Black women.
Today, we are happy to announce that Fearless Fund CEO and co-founder Arian Simone will speak at the Disrupt 2024 Builders Stage in a fireside chat discussing her organization’s fight for racial equity.
This June, an appeals court ruled that Fearless Fund’s business grant likely violates Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and has banned the grant’s deployment indefinitely.
Fearless Fund is one of many organizations facing the heat for having programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Register for your Disrupt pass today and join 10,000 tech leaders for 3 days of startup innovation this October.
Allison Cohen is the senior applied AI projects manager at Mila, a Quebec-based community of more than 1,200 researchers specializing in AI and machine learning.
One of the projects I managed involved building a dataset containing instances of subtle and overt expressions of bias against women.
I learned firsthand why this process is fundamental to building responsible applications, and also why it’s not done enough — it’s hard work!
What advice would you give to women seeking to enter the AI field?
How can investors better push for responsible AI?
“When we think about our nation’s IP and leadership globally, it’s synonymous with leadership in space,” Stricklan told me in an interview before the occasion.
To that end Space Workforce 2030 has started with the basics: collecting and understanding the data in order to establish a baseline.
Stricklan told me that thousands of teachers have signed on and they expect to see a lot of engagement next month.
They have different touchpoints to get to those that just don’t understand there could be a future for them in a STEM-related career.” Stricklan told me.
You can learn more about the Space Workforce 2030 effort here.
The AI boom, love it or find it to be a bit more hype than substance, is here to stay.
That means lots of companies raising oodles of dollars, a healthy dose of regulatory concern, academic work, and corporate jockeying.
For startups, it means a huge opportunity to bring new technology to bear on a host of industries that could use a bit of polish.
But if you read the news, you might notice that men are the far and away most cited, and discussed players in AI today.
So, TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori Davis and Kyle Wiggers decided to go out and talk to women working in AI to learn more about their work, how they got into the world of artificial intelligence, and more.
Gómez’s research is grounded in the computational music field, where she contributes to the understanding of the way humans describe music and the methods in which it’s modeled digitally.
What I liked at the time from machine learning was its modelling capabilities and the shift from knowledge-driven to data-driven algorithm design — e.g.
There’s also PHENICX, a large European Union (EU)-funded project I coordinated on the use of music; and AI to create enriched symphonic music experiences.
What advice would you give to women seeking to enter the AI field?
They should learn about the working principles and limitations of AI algorithms to be able to challenge them and use them in a responsible way.
We’ll publish several pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized.
Kristine Gloria leads the Aspen Institute’s Emergent and Intelligent Technologies Initiative — the Aspen Institute being the Washington, D.C.-headquartered think tank focused on values-based leadership and policy expertise.
What are some issues AI users should be aware of?
What is the best way to responsibly build AI?
How can investors better push for responsible AIOne specific task, which I admire Mozilla Ventures for requiring in its diligence, is an AI model card.
But amid the buzz, one crucial question emerges: How is AI shaping the journey of founders?
TechCrunch’s Early Stage conference is set to delve deep into this inquiry, and we’re thrilled to announce a special Women’s Breakfast event on April 25 in Boston.
This exclusive gathering will focus on exploring the intricate ways in which AI is reshaping the entrepreneurial path for women in tech.
TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 promises to be a landmark event, and the Women’s Breakfast is your gateway to unlocking the full potential of AI in your entrepreneurial journey.
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024?
Aneja’s current research focuses on the societal impact of algorithmic decision-making systems in India, where she’s based, and platform governance.
Aneja recently authored a study on the current uses of AI in India, reviewing use cases across sectors including policing and agriculture.
At the same time, India had launched its Digital India mission and National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.
What are some issues AI users should be aware of?
Investors need to consider the entire life cycle of AI production — not just the outputs or outcomes of AI applications.
Nonnecke also co-directors the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, where she leads projects on AI, platforms and society, and the UC Berkeley AI Policy Hub, an initiative to train researchers to develop effective AI governance and policy frameworks.
I’ve been working in responsible AI governance for nearly a decade.
First, The University of California was the first university to establish responsible AI principles and a governance structure to better ensure responsible procurement and use of AI.
For women entering the AI field, my advice is threefold: Seek knowledge relentlessly, as AI is a rapidly evolving field.
Investors have the power to shape the industry’s direction by making responsible AI practices a critical factor in their investment decisions.
