Summary
AI is huge and here to stay. And it can be used in a number of areas to help businesses grow. There's one little problem. The underlying tech was developed with cisgender white men in mind. That can cause problems for an organization's DEI efforts. Jennifer Williams started Diversd as a way to combat those issues with technology-based solutions.
Transcript
When HR gets involved it's because something is broken, or you've done something wrong. And I hated that. Hello, my name is Jennifer L. Williams. I am the founder and CEO of Diversd. Born and raised in Washington DC. A proud graduate of Howard University. And I am an HR professional that looks like this. Being a founder that has the background that I do.
The way that I look at life and engage in life and far too often the way that people that look like me or have been marginalized, or basically just overlooked overall in spaces of work. When you create an ecosystem, that makes it more difficult by design for individuals to get funding, to be seen, they get very creative. And there's so many talented individuals who are routinely marginalized and overlooked that have said, "Okay, right? Done with this. I'll start my own." And they're starting their own. And that needs to scare you.
The challenge with AI in its current state is that it's been built from the viewpoint of cis white men. So what Diversd does, is uses our proprietary conscious counter bias to ensure that we're creating an overlay of intersectionality and inclusivity and data. And we aid and assist enterprises in ensuring that they are able to engage better with their employees and that they have real data and accountability.
I didn't really see anything that would be gained by telling someone that I was bisexual. I was like, "That has nothing to do with my business." Actually has everything to do with my business because we're focused on intersectionality and the interplay of identities.
And that's one of my identities, that it does change the way that I look at the world and how the world looks at me. And they're apparently not a lot of Afro-Latina bisexual founders in the tech space. who knew?
I, in essence, built Diversd for 20 year old Jennifer. To show very clearly that things can be done differently. HR doesn't have to be the place where dreams go to die.
