Technology IT White Papers - IDG Connect

Computer science has long been a discipline seemingly dominated by males, with the number of women in the field, and even of those graduating with technology degrees, perennially lagging behind the number of men. A recent study by the National Girls Collaborative Project in the United States and the success of conferences like "Women in Data" in the UK suggest that this may be beginning to change, and one catalyst for that change may be the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence (AI). Take Cylance, the fastest growing cyber-security software startup in the past ten years, according to research firm Gartner. The company developed an AI-based alternative to traditional antivirus (AV) -- and just recruited the second female member for its fast-growing data scientist team, now numbering 14. Another example of a company embracing women in the field of AI is Fast Forward Labs, an organisation that works with businesses to accelerate their data science and machine intelligence capabilities.