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That's Girl Code · July 7 · 51 min

AI Needs a Mother

Why does representation in tech (especially in AI) actually matter? Because we've seen what happens when it's missing. Eden and Ellen walk through a history of products built without women in the room: crash-test dummies modeled on the average man that left women 47% more likely to be seriously injured, drugs dosed for male bodies, heart attacks misdiagnosed because the textbook symptoms are men's, hiring algorithms that penalized the word "women," and facial recognition that couldn't see darker-skinned women. The through-line is simple. When women aren't in the room, tools get built without them in mind, and the harm is real. Now AI is being shaped in exactly those rooms. This episode is about why that can't happen again, what the numbers at the top labs actually look like, and why getting women in early isn't optional.

0:00-51:46

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show notes

Why does representation in tech (especially in AI) actually matter? Because we've seen what happens when it's missing. Eden and Ellen walk through a history of products built without women in the room: crash-test dummies modeled on the average man that left women 47% more likely to be seriously injured, drugs dosed for male bodies, heart attacks misdiagnosed because the textbook symptoms are men's, hiring algorithms that penalized the word "women," and facial recognition that couldn't see darker-skinned women. The through-line is simple. When women aren't in the room, tools get built without them in mind, and the harm is real. Now AI is being shaped in exactly those rooms. This episode is about why that can't happen again, what the numbers at the top labs actually look like, and why getting women in early isn't optional.