Getting a Competitive Edge by Purposefully Removing Gender-Bias
in AI
The business benefits of a diverse workforce are undeniable. Companies as diverse as their customer base are poised to succeed, because they understand and can connect with customers better. Different ideas and an open culture drives innovation. As the only engineer-turned marketer woman with a multi-cultural background in most conversations, I often find myself bringing fresh perspectives to the table.
However, it’s important to provide tangible examples of this value and conscientiously encourage it. Diversity plays a crucial role in the future of today’s hottest technology: AI and the AI winners of tomorrow should leverage this as a differentiator.
Gender bias in AI and what it means
As an engineer by background, I find it exhilarating to watch AI develop, including through Generative and Agentic AI. My passion for AI began 25 years ago in the speech industry. It was a labor of love and a very slow process. Google did not exist nor the iPhone to have plenty of videos or audio database to train models on. In contrast, the speed of processing and amount of data today is remarkable.
Unfortunately, the sheer nature of historical data and of the workforce still contains gender-bias that is carried over into the AI models. In high income countries, the gender gap in account ownership has closed to be minimal, but that is not the case globally and especially in developing economies.
And today, women still only make up 22% of AI professionals globally. The pathway to these roles is also problematic. Male graduates outnumber females in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by 4 to 1.
Gender inequality leads to gender bias in AI algorithms. A study by the Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership analysed 133 AI systems across different industries and found that about 44 per cent of them showed gender bias.
Diversity to win in AI
The companies that will win in the world of AI will be the ones that innovate with a true focus on their customers. Diversity in the data and data scientists will drive this innovation.
At Temenos, we recognize the importance of diversity and I’m proud of our record. Notably, 35% of people in our STEM roles are women, significantly above the global average. 37% of our Board are women, we have a 50/50 split at ExCo level and in fact have more women than men in senior leadership roles at 57%!
All of this through just organic growth and process without emphasis on affirmative action.
It’s also my first time working with a female Chief Product and Technology Officer, in my colleague Barb Morgan. This is a rare and fantastic achievement in our industry
Maintaining a high bar as a market leader
It’s a good start, but we have to make sure their contribution is also meaningful especially as we develop more AI solutions in our portfolio.
We will use internal data to remove bias on Recruitment, Retention, Pay, Advancement and Representation. We will provide more opportunities through work experience, internships and mentoring.
When it comes to building financial AI-models, we need to be mindful of bias too. Did you know about the 6-percentage-point difference I referenced earlier, between women holding a bank account (68%) compared to men (74%)? You would if your data scientist was a woman based in these regions!
There’s no doubt that AI is transforming our world, bringing huge benefits to all of us. That’s why we must work together to support female representation in AI-related areas. From education, to employment, to leadership.
Let’s remove gender-bias and make AI better together!
Temenos AI
With AI infused into the Temenos Banking Platform, we are helping banks deploy AI solutions effectively and safely.