Women in AI Ethics Interview: Career Pivot

Many of us pivot in our careers or want to. Women in AI Ethics™ interviewed me about my pivot into AI ethics. Here are some highlights.

➤ Can you share an incident that inspired you to join this space?

I fully joined the AI ethics space in 2020. I did research in AI ethics before that year (during my PhD), but the events of 2020 inspired a pivot in my work. I was especially influenced by that year’s social and environmental upheavals, including the pandemic, the BLM protests, the massive fires in Australia, and a war in my home country, Israel. It was all just too much. I felt cooped up in an ivory tower, with little impact on what was going on outside. My mindset shifted. My top professional priority became using my skills for social good, and I realized that the best way for me to do that is to push AI ethics forward in the industry.

➤ How did you land your current role?

I landed all my roles in AI ethics through networking. Once I realized I was interested in integrating with the industry, I started reaching out to people whose roles intrigued me. I had many, many of these conversations (I stopped counting after about 200). They helped me identify needs, and I started working on projects to address them. I shared my insights publicly on LinkedIn, and my networking gradually revolved around my projects. I was able to speak to pressing needs, had a conviction about how to address them, and had a history of work I could show to illustrate my approach. As a result, I met more like-minded people who saw how I could contribute to their organization.

➤ The other questions I answered were:

- What kind of issues in AI do you tackle in your day-to-day work?

- If you have a non-traditional or non-technical background, what barriers did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

- Why is more diversity — gender, race, orientation, socio-economic background, other — in the AI ethics space important?

- What is your advice to those from non-traditional backgrounds who want to do meaningful work in this space on how to overcome barriers like tech bro culture, lack of ethical funding/opportunities, etc.?

➤ My interview is part of a series. Mia Shah-Dand, the trailblazing leader of Women in AI Ethics, posted about it today. Check out the full series! 

➤ My own interview was about year ago. It’s wild for me to see how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. I’d be curious to hear about other people’s journeys!

Continue the conversation here or follows us on LinkedIn here.