Technology is not a gender issue. The role of women is becoming more and more prominent in this world and is calling for a step forward. While there is still much to be done to equalize the female presence to the male, it is clear that technology is also a female issue.
This has been clearly demonstrated in the third edition of the Impact Innovation Talks, organized by Telefónica Open Future_ together with PWN Madrid, a professional business network run by women.
The event wanted to bring together three male speakers and three female speakers to give their different points of view on three topics: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data for social welfare and cybersecurity. As a battle, to confront male versus female thought, Wayra Madrid was the scene of this dialectical crusade.
Machines must be given common sense
The first round of experts was led by Ramón López de Mantaras, director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of the CSIC, together with the director of human behavior of Telefónica, Angela Shen-Hsieh. ” We have to be cautious, ” Mantaras said. ” We are starting and it seems that a lot is demanded“, but the science behind it” has not advanced ” since the beginnings of Artificial Intelligence. Mantaras understands that in the world of Big Data is not all done and that there is still a long way to go.
A path for the future in which it will count on the collaboration of Angela Shen-Hsieh. Both coincide in the need to equip machines with common sense although they emphasize that giving them total autonomy would be a great mistake for humanity. People react in different and unpredictable ways to a situation, something that machines, at the moment, are not able to cope with. ” They need to know more about us, ” said Shen-Hsieh, who understands that this is the big challenge of this technology. “Knowing about you and your context“, through the data that the user provides,” can be confusing ” for consumers.
Both Shen-Hsieh and Mantaras defend the need for women to have an increasing presence in the technological world. To Shen-Hsieh, the gender gap is not an ” educational issue”, but a problem of the world in which you “wish more women” were part of companies” startups and the technology sector so that variety makes us “proud of the future”.
“The possibilities of Big Data are very great”
A future in which Big Data for social welfare will be present. This is what Rebeca García Marciel, director of Gartner Consulting for Spain and Portugal, and Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Senior Data Scientist at LUCA believes.
Both were the protagonists of the second dialectical exchange where García Marciel stressed that” the possibilities of Big Data are very great”, but certain barriers such as that of the public sector must be raised. A brake that also sees of Alarcón, who finds the solution in the data donation. This requires “100% trusted organizations”, creating a reputation based on transparency.
A transparency that García Marciel sees as the principle of ethics in data transmission, currently underdeveloped. So, encourage women to participate in this new challenge because “Big Data is starting and the future is yours, girls””
But such transparency will only be possible through good security. Defending against attacks is vital in the virtual world and cybersecurity is essential. In this regard, Yaiza Rubio, hacker and member of ElevenPaths ‘ team of Artificial Intelligence analysts, and David Barroso, founder of the startup Countercraft, specialized in digital counterintelligence campaigns; are the experts.
” You have to assume that the problem will come to you, “says Rubio and, therefore, Barroso bets on “going further, anticipating”” Even more so in these times when the upload of files to the so-called cloud has favored cyber criminals to attack. There are two problems that Barroso sees when it comes to foreseeing the attack: pseudoanonymate of the cybercriminal and the feeling of impunity about him. Two aspects about which anticipation is essential, as is knowledge about it. From here, Rubio is committed to training and awareness from schools. Training the youngest in the risks of transferring data, in an inadequate way, will be an advance to the cyber attack.
Without a doubt, a day full of innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and great professionals.
