Invisible barriers prevent S’pore women from joining AI boom

SINGAPORE – Nanyang Technological College computing pupil and IT safety marketing consultant Seraphina Chua, 21, has typically skilled a delicate prejudice that assumes technical roles are extra suited to males.

She mentioned: “I’ve skilled instances once I felt ignored or underestimated, and far of this would possibly stem from gender biases – whether or not intentional or not.

“In such circumstances, I typically felt that I needed to show myself greater than my male counterparts, even once I was equally certified.”

This concern is one invisible barrier standing in the way in which of extra ladies reminiscent of Ms Chua exploring the quickly increasing area of synthetic intelligence (AI).

Getting extra ladies to interrupt down these limitations has change into a precedence for academic establishments, firms and the Authorities, in addition to ladies who’re already working within the area.

Whereas many of those limitations are already prevalent within the wider areas of science, expertise, engineering and arithmetic (Stem), within the rising area of AI, the stakes transcend equal illustration and good jobs.

The gender imbalance within the area doesn’t simply imply succesful ladies could also be lacking out on doubtlessly profitable employment, nevertheless it additionally has implications on the nascent technology’s potential biases and applications, mentioned practitioners, college students and specialists.

​​Numerous research have proven that AI fashions can take up and amplify the biases of their human creators.

Fewer ladies on the high, fewer in expertise pipeline

At Singapore’s institutes of upper schooling, there’s a decrease price of ladies signing as much as research AI and machine studying (ML) – a subfield of AI broadly outlined as the potential of a machine to mimic clever human behaviour – in contrast with their male counterparts.

Feminine college students comprised a few quarter of enrolment in AI and ML programmes at Singapore’s polytechnics and universities over the previous 5 years, Training Minister Chan Chun Sing advised Parliament in November 2024.

The persistent problem in attracting ladies to those programs comes amid a authorities drive to triple the present variety of AI practitioners right here to fifteen,000 as Singapore seeks to position itself on the forefront of the rising expertise.

The Republic plans to take action by coaching locals and hiring from abroad as a part of an up to date nationwide AI technique, introduced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on the finish of 2023.

A number of elements contribute to the gender disparity in Stem programmes, together with these that concentrate on AI and ML, mentioned Singapore Institute of Expertise deputy president and provost John Thong.

“One vital affect is early socialisation, the place ladies are sometimes steered in direction of people-oriented careers, whereas boys are inspired to pursue Stem fields,” mentioned Professor Thong.

“Moreover, the shortage of feminine position fashions in AI and tech management can discourage younger ladies from envisioning themselves in these roles.”

SIT’s personal numbers echo nationwide averages – roughly 25 per cent of its college students in Stem and AI programmes are ladies.

Whereas the general numbers are low, universities right here mentioned they’ve not too long ago seen an uptick in curiosity among the many feminine cohort.

A spokesperson from Singapore Administration College mentioned its computing-related programs have a feminine enrolment of about 35 per cent, in contrast with about 60 per cent for regulation and 75 per cent for social sciences.

On the Nationwide College of Singapore, total feminine enrolment in such programs additionally stands at 25 per cent, however the whole variety of ladies pursuing undergraduate and grasp’s programmes in AI and ML has elevated by about 40 per cent within the final tutorial yr, in contrast with three years in the past.

NTU has additionally seen extra feminine college students taking on programs in AI and ML.

Its dean of the School of Computing & Information Science and vice-president of AI and digital financial system, Professor Luke Ong, gave the instance of the Bachelor of Computing in Information Science and Synthetic Intelligence programme, the place 4 in 10 of the scholars enrolled within the tutorial yr beginning in August 2024 had been ladies.

Widespread curiosity in AI took off in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, a chatbot which makes use of generative synthetic intelligence to reply questions in easy language, utilizing algorithms to course of massive quantities of data at pace.

Developed by OpenAI, it demonstrated a lot potential to rapidly automate a big quantity of duties historically accomplished by people that it prompted a US$13 billion (S$17.8 billion) funding from Microsoft and triggered an arms race between the massive tech gamers to get their very own AI merchandise off the bottom.

Skilled providers agency Accenture’s managing director for Singapore Eleana Liew mentioned: “We see AI as the subsequent ‘digital’ – a transformative pressure that may enhance productiveness throughout over 900 job sorts by automating mundane duties and enabling individuals to give attention to higher-value work.”

As AI reshapes industries and every day life, ladies should play a central position on this transformation, she mentioned.

Breaking down limitations

Ms Liew famous that the World Financial Discussion board’s World Gender Hole Report launched in 2024 discovered that girls make up simply 28.2 per cent of the Stem workforce, in contrast with 47.3 per cent in non-Stem sectors.

This under-representation of ladies in Stem is a problem for Singapore, because it limits the expertise pool obtainable for the quickly rising sector, impacting all industries, mentioned SIT’s Prof Thong.

He added: “Furthermore, this imbalance dangers perpetuating gender biases within the growth of AI options, and creates a scarcity of feminine position fashions within the area, which may deter future generations of ladies from pursuing careers in expertise.”

Agreeing, NUS PhD pupil and AI start-up founder Evelyn Goh mentioned an absence of feminine illustration could have extra prices down the road because the expertise develops. 

Ms Goh, whose doctorate is within the area of AI, based Megrez, an organization which makes use of the expertise to develop medical software program.

Elevating the instance of how some medical science was initially based mostly solely on analysis accomplished on males, Ms Goh mentioned that AI and its functions danger being equally biased if extra ladies are usually not working within the area.

“Future merchandise or functions from AI or machine studying could not be capable to cater to ladies if the expertise just isn’t designed for your entire inhabitants from the start,” she mentioned.

For the ladies within the area, limitations additionally exist – they might discover it more durable to achieve senior positions, an issue seen throughout the tech sector and never distinctive to Singapore, famous Accenture’s Ms Liew. 

“There are a number of causes for this. One of many largest is societal norms that proceed to count on ladies to shoulder the dominant weight of caregiving obligations at residence,” she mentioned.

Some progress has been made to chip away at a few of these limitations, on each a coverage and an organisational degree.

Analysis reveals that the share of feminine expertise in AI engineering has greater than doubled since 2016, Ms Liew famous.

Minister for Digital Improvement and Info Josephine Teo mentioned: “We’ve seen encouraging progress for women and girls in tech. For instance, the enrolment hole has narrowed for programs which are Stem-focused.”

She added that Singapore should sustain efforts in participating all events to develop alternatives for women and girls in tech.

In response to Mrs Teo, the SG Girls In Tech (SGWiT) initiative has reached greater than 115,000 ladies in main and secondary faculties, in addition to tertiary establishments, connecting them with feminine position fashions within the area.

It’s an initiative by the Infocomm Media Improvement Authority (IMDA) to help ladies taking on careers within the area.

The polytechnics and universities are additionally putting in measures to ease entry for ladies into Stem-related programs.

For instance, NTU is operating a programme generally known as the Promotion of Girls in Engineering, Analysis and Science (Powers), which goals to equip feminine college students with talent units to embark on such careers.

IMDA can be working with polytechnics by SGWiT to achieve feminine college students and develop their curiosity in tech careers at talks and workshops, in addition to with mentorship alternatives.

Some ladies, like NTU’s Ms Chua, are taking issues into their very own arms.

Regardless of being repeatedly underestimated, she has not been deterred.

Whereas finding out cyber safety and digital forensics at Nanyang Polytechnic, Ms Chua was head of expertise attraction in Ladies in Tech – an inter-polytechnic committee pushed by IMDA and Singapore’s 5 polytechnics.

She mentioned: “We organise occasions, workshops and talks designed to lift consciousness (amongst ladies) concerning the numerous alternatives obtainable within the tech trade.

“In a historically male-dominated trade, discovering a way of belonging can generally be troublesome (for ladies), and having a group of like-minded people fosters camaraderie and encourages ladies to help one another.” 

Ms Chua additionally has a full-time job as an IT safety marketing consultant at multinational IT agency NCS. She had taken up an internship on the firm which was provided by a recruiter at a Ladies in Tech occasion.

She joined NCS in 2024 and the corporate supported her undergraduate research by its work-study programme.

NUS’ Ms Goh mentioned that along with organisational help, creating an inclusive setting additionally requires small particular person actions.

At her lab in NUS, about half the researchers are ladies – a end result that she attributes to her supervisor, Affiliate Professor Feng Mengling’s give attention to respect and benefit.

She mentioned: “He has by no means overtly made statements about together with ladies or issues like that; it’s extra about the way in which he makes everybody really feel welcome no matter their background.

“On the finish of the day, it’s not about forcing ladies into the sphere however ensuring that they really feel it’s a alternative that they don’t enter somewhat than that they can’t.”

• Ng Wei Kai is a journalist at The Straits Instances, the place he covers politics.

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