The Women in Big Data South Africa chapter, a forum which seeks to strengthen diversity in analytics and big data, is set to exhibit at AI Expo Africa 2020.
The forum will be held online with chairperson and strategic sourcing and research specialist Naomi Molefe also giving a talk on talent sourcing in artificial intelligence (AI) and Data Science at the show. This is the continent’s largest trade-focused AI, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Data Science business conference. It will be held on 3 and 4 September.
Nick Bradshaw, co-founder of AI Media Group organisers of AI Expo Africa, stated “We’ve invited Women in Big Data South Africa to exhibit at this year’s show as part of our drive to make the AI and Data Science community more inclusive and diverse. AI will have direct social, economic and political impacts on our societies as we move into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as such it is imperative that women be included in this field to avoid gender bias and to come to come up with technologies that progress digital equality”.
“As we celebrate women’s month in South Africa this August, we should have more conversations, not only now — but all year round — on how to attract, encourage and support more women in AI and machine learning research, as well as in the big data and analytics field,” added Bradshaw.
The Women in Big Data Forum’s mission is to inspire and attract more female talent to big data roles and to help them connect, engage and grow. The organisation does this through networking events, professional development and by sharing industry related content with members.
Delegates to AI Expo Africa 2020 ONLINE who are passionate about the meaningful inclusion of women in AI should also visit Fliptin’s virtual booth at the show. The Johannesburg-based venture builder runs the AI in Africa social impact initiative — in partnership with the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation — which through a series of bootcamps exposes 15-18 year old female learners to AI concepts and ethics, as well as the design thinking process, pitching techniques and building chambers and image classifiers.
AI Expo Africa 2020 ONLINE will also feature talks by prominent women working in the field. These include:
- Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and ML, World Economic Forum
- Renee Cummings, Criminologist and AI Ethicist, Columbia University
- Alison B Lowndes, AI Devrel EMEA, NVIDIA
- Ati Ngubevana, Group Executive HOD: Digital Process Engineering, Vodacom
- Kathryn Malherbe, CEO and founder, MedSol AI Solutions
- Kimara Naicker, PhD Researcher, UKZN Quantum Research Group
- Lebogang Martins, Senior Project Manager, IoT.nxt
- Lenore Kerrigan, Country Director SA, UiPath
- Nella Oluoch, CEO and founder, Keypetbooks
- Phumza Dyani, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Broadband Infraco; Chief Innovation Officer, Pan African Chamber of Commerce
- Celina Lee, CEO, Zindi
- Nazareen Ebrahim, AI Researcher, Socially Acceptable
- Minda Marshall, Director, LectorSA
- Vicki – 100% synthetic AI-powered host
Roy Bannister, Director Show Production at AI Expo Africa, said “Not only do we have a superb line-up of regional and global female thought leaders, but we uniquely also have a brand new addition to the show —Vicki. Vicki is the first 100% synthetic AI-powered host of AI Expo Africa 2020. She is working at the show to introduce the main keynote speaker during the opening sessions of Day 1 and Day 2 of the show.”
”This technology has come a long way and will be showcased at the event. It’s becoming harder to tell the difference between real humans and synthetic actor, which is both an amazing innovation but also provokes interesting reactions, especially in the era of fake news and deep fakes. She is a testimony to how far this technology has come and we can assure our audience everything she says is true!”
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