A lot of ink has been spilled (virtual and real) on the disproportionate representation of women in technology sectors, including computer science. In the field of artificial intelligence, one particular subset of computer science, representation of women is possibly even worse, according to a Bloomberg News report published yesterday in the Seattle Times. It spells bad news for innovation in the field of AI itself (apart from the fact that lack of women in the field is, in and of itself, a problem). This has to do with the nature of the field. Because building AI systems often requires accumulating and programming masses of knowledge and information about the world, a field dominated by men will have biases that might make AI systems narrower and less fully-realized.
“Artificial intelligence has a ‘sea of dudes’ problem” The Seattle Times
Amit Dhingra, a researcher at Washington State University, believes pears deserve a spot at the top of America’s favorite fruits. Dhingra points out that pears have been studied and marketed to consumers less than apples. For example, in Washington state in 2016, apples got three times the amount of research dollars as pears did. This is because they’re not as popular, and therefore not as heavily pushed by marketers. And the reason they’re not as popular has to do with when they’re available to ear, which is one of the things Dhingra is working on, profiled in a piece in the Atlantic. What is this researcher's motivation? As the CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest says, “He definitely has a soft spot for pears.”
“The push to make pears the new apples” The Atlantic
The statistics on malaria are overwhelming. Vice sent one of their reporters to Tanzania to report on efforts to eradicate the mosquito-borne illness there. They also decided to put together a web piece highlighting the staggering statistics all in one place, so they wouldn't get lost in the reporting. It turns out that global malaria deaths between 2000 and 2015 have dropped almost by half, from close to 1 million to less than half a million. Nevertheless, it’s estimated that a person dies of malaria once every minute, and by 2030, we will need $8.7 billion a year to combat malaria worldwide.
“The true cost of malaria” Vice Motherboard
“Malaria’s last stand” Vice Motherboard
