I had the privilege of speaking about AI at the Buckinghamshire Federation of Women’s Institutes 2024 Invesigation and Discovery Day on 12th March 2024.
This was an unusual event for me, because I was presenting to a lay audience rather than one that was already immersed in the field of data and AI. I wanted to demystify AI a bit, highlight where it would have most impacts on their lives, and delve into some of the challenges and issues, particularly (given it was the Women’s Institute) how these relate to women.
I tried to get a balance between the scary stuff – warning the elderly women in the audience about deep fakes and phishing scams – and being more empowering. As I was researching the presentation, I learned that women are less likely to use AI than men, in part because of concerns about it. The trouble is that avoiding AI leaves women multiply disadvantaged: more likely to be victimised through deep fake porn and scams; less likely to be involved in developing AI; and less likely to gain the advantages of using AI.
Unsurprisingly, though, it was the negative parts that the audience focused on most, ranging from the impact on democratic processes through to young people spending all their time on phones. I think for a future talk I would want to spend a bit more time talking about previous technological revolutions and moral panics. It is the case that we over-play and over-hype the impacts of technologies, and treat with suspicion things that are invented after our youth. Some of our concerns are justified, but focusing only on those is ultimately disempowering.
