The Ally Skills workshop is open to anyone who wishes to learn how to be a better ally and advocate for women of color in tech. This year, Professor Nadim Saad will lead the Ally Skills workshop, “AI and Ethics: Building Fair and Inclusive Models”.  

Have you ever wondered how AI models are able to perform many of the tasks that only humans were able to do for many centuries? Can human biases appear in the results produced by AI algorithms? How can we mitigate them? We will be answering these questions in the Ally Skills workshop.

In the first part of the workshop, we will focus on the main blocks needed to develop AI models starting from analyzing the data to building models that can generate various output such as images and speech. 

In the second part of the workshop, we will look at real-world examples to understand how human biases can be reflected in different stages of the development of an AI agent. We will learn how to build ethical frameworks which highlight the importance of ethical considerations, including topics such as fairness, social bias, intersectionality, and human rights. 

We will not require any background knowledge in AI. This workshop is open for anyone who wishes to learn more about AI and how to be a better advocate for communities affected by AI bias.

The Ally Skills ticket includes:  

• The opening session of the main conference, with keynote speaker Ayori Selassie, Innovator, Venture Capitalist, and Advocate for Trustworthy AI.
• The morning and afternoon sessions of an interactive workshop “AI and Ethics: Building Fair and Inclusive Models” led by Professor Nadim Saad, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University.
• Gourmet catering for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.
• The closing session of the main conference, which features X.Eyee, CEO, Malo Santo.

Because space is limited, we encourage early registration.