This past week IBM honored 35 female business leaders from 12 countries at its annual Think Digital conference, recognizing them for their innovative use of artificial intelligence in a range of industries. These top women leaders having achieved significant accomplishments now are part of a network of peers that they can take forward in their careers.
According to a recent IBM Global AI survey, 34 percent of surveyed businesses in the U.S., Europe and China have now adopted AI and the women honored are seen as shaping innovative AI use cases in the areas of customer satisfaction, employee retention, response times, cost savings, and more efficient processes. In addition, some have demonstrated how the power of Watson’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) can create more efficient business processes and improve customer and employee experiences. Overall, they are leveraging AI to address the data science skills shortage and are helping to prove that human and machine collaboration can improve how people work.
“Artificial intelligence will be at the center of business transformation over the next decade, and for us to mitigate bias moving forward, we need women and diverse teams at the forefront of AI. That’s why we are proud to share the stories of 35 remarkable women who are driving progressive use of AI using Watson,” said Michelle Peluso, IBM’s Senior Vice President for Digital Sales and Chief Marketing Officer, who also serves as the global leader for IBM’s Women’s Initiative.
IBM in partnership with Morning Consult conducted a new global study of more than 3,200 AI professionals to gain insight about diversity and gender equity, indicating that over the past few years 85 percent of AI professionals believe the industry has become more diverse. Almost all of them holding that view, 91%, believe this is having a positive impact, but 74 percent of them feel it must become more diverse to reach its potential.
The study also revealed some differences in the experiences of men and women. While men and women in AI had equal interest in math and hard sciences growing up, men working in AI were more likely to be told they had a natural talent for mathematics and hard sciences. In contrast women were more likely to be told they had a natural talent for the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. Furthermore, women in AI across the globe felt they were nearly five times as likely as men to say their career advancement was negatively impacted by their gender.
The 2020 IBM Women Leaders in AI honorees in the U.S. are:
- Tiphanie Combre, Senior Director, AI Assisted Service and Automation, ADP
- Amy Shreve-McDonald, Lead Product Marketing Manager for Business Digital Experience, AT&T
- Tammy Lucas, Vice President of Marketing, Best Western Hotels & Resorts
- Sheila Ambruster, Senior Manager, Strategic Architecture, The Boeing Company
- Ashley Lawrence, Research and Innovation Project Manager, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency
- Maiga Bishop, Director of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Dillard’s
- Jo Ann Tan, Head of Infrastructure, The Hartford
- Marisa Ferrara Boston, Automation and AI Lead Architect, Audit Technology, KPMG LLP
- Donna Dodson, Chief Cybersecurity Advisor, NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Melissa Molstad, Director of Common Platforms, Data Strategy and Vendor Relations, PayPal (U.S.)
- Amala Duggirala, Enterprise Chief Operations and Technology Officer, Regions Bank (U.S.)
IBM ‘s Women Leaders in AI program began in 2019 with the goals of giving greater visibility to women leading in AI, increasing female participation in the AI field, and building a network for the honorees to experience shared learning.
