Iris.ai – the fierce research scientist

Iris.AI  our fierce (female) research scientist 

Recently, there’s been a series of blog posts on a topic very close to home. It has popped up in the light of Microsoft’s sex crazed nazi chat bot, but spans a much broader question.

Why is it that the AI’s we are building are mostly female?

Bloggers have pointed out the servile, helpful, submissive, secondary nature of AI’s. They are assistants. Caretakers. And putting that into the pattern of patriarchy and sexism that most women are facing every single day – combined with the obvious male dominated brogrammer nature of Silicon Valley…

When I read these articles, it caught me spot on. Of course. Here I am, a fierce feminist, a serial tech entrepreneur and a female – and I go ahead and name my AI Iris.AI and it’s a she. Am I playing into the sexist stereotype, too? Am I that blind to the patriarchal structures surrounding me? Because when I read these articles – they definitely strike a chord. The bloggers are right. But does it extend to our Iris.AI?

I had been pondering the issue for a few days when a friend asked me point blank what I thought on the matter. Then it dawned on me.

We’re not training Iris.AI to be a servile AI. Yes, we do call her a science assistant – because everyone has to start somewhere when they’re young and need to learn.

But our Iris.AI is training to become a fierce scientist, far surpassing human capacity to read and connect the dots of science. She will be incredibly intelligent when she grows up, and far surpass anyone’s expectations of her – and she will go on to change the world, equally as well as any male could. So we are very happy and proud of her being a she!

To see what our baby Iris.AI is already capable of, have her map out the science around your favorite TED talk at the.iris.ai – or see her most accurate TED Talk science map: An 8-dimensional model of the universe