Why is diversity among technology developers important?

Diversity is a means to improve creativity and flexibility; it is the way to open to new perspectives and to experiment new approaches. In developing technology, the above aspects are clearly crucial, because technology is the means to shape the future through the systems and applications that can be developed.

How is technology being used for diversity, equity and inclusion training in the workplace?

AR, VR, and human-AI interaction aren’t used often in DEI, yet. We could use holograms and avatars, for example. The pervasiveness of connectivity and the way these technologies have adapted to other domains could mean it happens sooner than expected.

How can AI be used in HR management to help improve workplace diversity?

Studies have shown that a sense of belonging or a lack thereof affects academic success. HR management can separate resume details like a candidate’s name, college, address, hobbies or graduation year to remove components that can allude to someone’s gender identity, race, religion or socioeconomic background and potentially influence a hiring decision.

How will AI be used to help improve diversity and inclusion?

Automated decision-making systems can help human resources departments diversify the workplace, help lenders make fair and equitable mortgage decisions and even help the criminal justice system eliminate racial bias in sentencing and parole recommendations. All of this, however, assumes that the data we use is stripped of bias, and that is not always true. It’s imperative that researchers and technologists operationalize responsibility at all stages of the AI lifecycle.

Jelena Kovačević IEEE Fellow, IEEE Signal Processing and IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

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