This weekend, Villanova University hosted the 9th annual VU Women in Tech conference. After attending and presenting at Grace Hopper Celebration a few months ago, I knew I wanted to attend.
Stay Curious
The day kicked off with a keynote from the pioneering Beth Mazzeo. She was one of the first 40 employees at Bloomberg in the 1980s and climbed the ranks to serve in Bloomberg LPs C-suite. My favorite message from Beth was “stay curious.” She acknowledged she wouldn’t have had the career advancement opportunities if she stayed small and didn’t ask questions. By being curious, she invited discussion, opportunity, and growth.
AI & Neurodiversity Red Flags
The first breakout session I attended was a discussion with two law professors. Elana Zeide from University of Nebraska and Ellen Goodman from Rutgers University shared some interesting and thought-provoking topics on the ethics around AI. As Professor Zeide spoke about her work on the topic of proctoring tools used for remote test taking, all sorts of red flags popped up. She spoke of tools that gained overnight popularity early in the pandemic, but never went through rigorous testing and verification to prove the tools were accurate and unbiased.
One example she shared was of a AI video tool that watched law students sit for the bar exam. It falsely claimed a “cheat” rate of around 90%. Immediately, I thought of the leaders with ADHD, rocking in their chairs, fidgeting with their hands, shifting their eyes. These actions do not indicate cheating, but how easily and often would proctoring software flag a neurodivergent test taker for something nefarious?
I spoke with Professor Zeide after the session about where to start and how to advocate. She recommended her paper titled “Big Proctor” available here.
Humanizing AI Before it Dehumanizes Us
My favorite presentation of the day was Rana el Kaliouby. She showed us a number of use cases where her company is using AI for good. One of the ways her technology works can help drivers be safer on the road. It can notice micro-expressions indicating when the driver is tired or distracted and signal to them to focus on driving. As someone who has admittedly been tired and distracted, this will save lives.
An even more powerful story was using their emotion-based technology to help autistic children understand emotions. Watching a clip of a son and mother interact with the technology, the mother began to cry as this was the first time her son made sustained eye contact with her.
There are arguments that neurodivergent people shouldn’t be held to neurotypical standards. In many ways, I agree, and think it can be unrealistic. We cannot ask someone to mask their true selves to fit in while also being their best and performing at work or in social situations.
But, there are also plenty of scenarios where neurodivergent individuals just don’t know the neurotypical rules they are expected to play by. There’s no rule book or website on how to be a stereotypical person. This technology helps to code facial expressions and teach emotions to people who struggled with understanding.
Props to Villanova
Overall, this was a great day! I met interesting people and am grateful for everything I learned. While this is a very unofficial assessment of ADHD-friendliness of the conference, I have to say the VU Women in Tech planning team knocked it out of the park. We had food and beverages (hot, cold, and bubbly). There were fun post-its and pens in the gift bags, and we each got a stress ball to fidget with. Well done!
