Women in AI: MP Dar’shun Kendrick wants to pass more AI legislation

To give women AI academics and others their well-deserved – and overdue – time in the highlight, TechCrunch is publishing a series of interviews specializing in the extraordinary women who’re contributing to the AI ​​revolution. We’re publishing these articles all year long because the AI ​​boom continues, highlighting key work that usually goes unnoticed. Read more profiles here.

Dar’shun Kendrick is Member positions of the Georgia House of Representatives she has been chosen in 2010 she was 27 years old. She has an intensive profession in policy, equal opportunity and technology, including on the Committee on Small Business Development and Job Creation and the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure, where she is involved in the Subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence. She also worked with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the Telecommunications, Science and Technology Committee, and in 2019 created the primary bipartisan Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Caucus in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Kendrick attended Oglethorpe University and received her law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. She is a lawyer and in 2017 it was opened law firm and investment consulting to help women and black founders learn more about raising capital.

Briefly speaking, how did you start in artificial intelligence? What drew you to the sphere?

I began my adventure with artificial intelligence with a broad interest in technology. I’m a securities lawyer, so I help founders across the country raise billions in private investment capital, and I also advise VC funds. Therefore, due to my “day job”, I all the time hear about and have interaction in capital raises using the most recent technologies.

I used to be, and proceed to be, drawn to AI due to how interesting it’s for a policymaker to balance making people’s lives easier while ensuring that machine learning doesn’t disrupt our democracy and what makes us human. As a lawyer, I’m also interested in this because VCs and founders in the AI ​​space seem to be bucking the recent trend of not raising as much investor capital as other subsets of technology. I do not know why that is obligatory and that is what makes it fascinating.

What work in AI are you most pleased with?

During the last legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly, I served on a small subcommittee on artificial intelligence that passed legislation regarding the upcoming election and “deep fraud” by political campaigns to influence the election.

This is only the start, but I’m proud that the state of Georgia has began having these conversations. The government tends to be years behind in catching up with emerging technology, so I’m glad we’re starting to take a look at every little thing related to AI – especially generative AI.

How do you cope with the challenges of the male-dominated tech industry, and by extension, the male-dominated AI industry?

Show up. I show up in spaces where these male-dominated industries would not expect me to be seen – events, conferences, discussions, etc. It’s the identical way I managed to break into the male-dominated enterprise capital industry: I just showed up knowing what I used to be talking about. I say and providing something of value that the industry needs.

What advice would you give to women wanting to start working in the AI ​​industry?

Produce. Women are used to multitasking. In my opinion, that is top-of-the-line applications of generative and applied artificial intelligence. So I do know that ladies can produce a brand new AI-based product that may make life easier because we’re those who need it. You haven’t got to develop a product – you only need to be a visionary. Someone else can construct it. Show up. There are only so many spaces we will steer clear of. Continue learning. Technology changes so quickly. You want to give you the chance to provide value each time the chance arises and also you enter this space, so listen to YouTube and enroll to receive emails from someone talking about this space.

What are essentially the most pressing issues facing artificial intelligence because it evolves?

Fraud. Whenever a brand new technology comes along, someone is sneaky and cunning enough to discover a way to use it for evil. Particularly due to artificial intelligence, essentially the most vulnerable communities, resembling the elderly and immigrant populations, can be targeted. Privacy. A story as old as time and continued thanks to artificial intelligence. As you feed the AI ​​machine more details about yourself, the higher it’ll turn out to be.

The downside is that it now knows and stores quite a lot of details about you. Data breaches occur on a regular basis. Hacking is one thing. So it is a problem. Adaptation for small businesses. Government, legal field, financial services. All of those industries tend to be more conservative and slower to adapt to latest technologies. However, in this dynamic world, slow use of AI is a recipe for small business failure. Government and company partners must find ways to train enterprises to respond to the changing technology and business development landscape resulting from AI.

What issues should AI users pay attention to?

Now you could have to second-guess every little thing due to the scam, and you could have to be picky in regards to the information you share with AI platforms. Additionally, users should know that AI technology is just as effective as human input. So there remains to be the potential for discrimination – consider artificial intelligence in job applications – which will result from its use.

What is the easiest way to construct AI responsibly?

Develop a written ethical framework with “DO’S and DON’T’s” that give attention to privacy, data security, anti-fraud measures, and continuous reassessment of discrimination issues in the system. Write down this ethical framework, share it together with your team, and stick to it.

How can investors higher promote responsible AI?

(See above) and with severance pay. In particular, firms that claim to be focused on ESG (environmental, social and governance) hold them accountable by asking the precise questions, requiring a written ethics plan and setting metrics to truly exhibit their ESG investment.

What all of us – the federal government, the private sector and individuals – need to do is to strike a balance pretty quickly between the innovations that I really like as America’s trademark and the rights – the precise to privacy, the precise to liberty, the precise to due process and nondiscrimination. The sooner we understand this balance and act, the higher we can be as a rustic and a world.