Around a year ago, amidst numerous desktop browsers, a LinkedIn notification blinked expectantly. The freshly minted digital magazine of Forbes unleashing its 30 Under 30's. Intrigued, I hastily found the social entrepreneurship section. This was definitely very special. But it would take more than half a year since connecting with Emily on LinkedIn, to find the guts to actually reach out and hear more…because in reality, other than the recent Sciences Po course I took on algorithmic governance, I had underestimated how much potential AI had within law enforcement and justice.

At Singularity University, we are unleashing a generation of women who are smashing through barriers and starting some of the most ambitious technology companies on the planet. Singularity University was founded in 2008 to empower leaders to use exponential technologies to solve our world's biggest challenges. Our flagship program, the Global Solutions Program, has historically brought 80 entrepreneurs from around the world to Silicon Valley for 10 weeks to learn about exponential technologies and create moonshot startups that improve the lives of a billion people within a decade. After nearly 10 years of running this program, we can say that about 70 percent of our successful startups have been founded or co-founded by female entrepreneurs (see below for inspiring examples of their work). This is in sharp contrast to the typical 10–20 percent of venture-backed tech companies that have a female founder, as reported by TechCrunch.

When future historians of Silicon Valley look back at 2017, they'll see a time when America's most powerful tech companies and the venture capital ecosystem that created them came under unprecedented scrutiny from politicians and the public. The region's innovation engine produced numerous technical advances, but controversy over fake news and revelations about sexual harassment of female entrepreneurs have cast a shadow over the Valley this year. Big tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area were busier than ever in 2017, and artificial intelligence was a top priority for many of them. Among a long list of AI initiatives, Google launched TensorFlow Lite, a lightweight version of its open-source machine-learning software that has accelerated AI adoption among companies. The new version enables AI to run on mobile phones and household gadgets such as fridges and speakers.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Female entrepreneurs are required to work tirelessly to earn their well-deserved spot in the corner office and at the head of the table. Yet statistics show that more often than not, hard work literally doesn't pay when women are at the helm of a company. Only 3 percent of money from venture capitalists and 4 percent of commercial loans go to female entrepreneurs -- even as the number of women-owned businesses continues to skyrocket. According to the 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses Reportfrom American Express OPEN, "Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45 percent, compared to just a 9 percent increase among all businesses." Still, the language venture capitalists use to describe female entrepreneurs is tinged with negativity -- words and phrases like "high maintenance" and "cautious" are viewed as traits that could lead to disaster.

Robin Bylenga, 52, the founder and owner of Pedal Chic in Greenville, S.C., is the epitome of a smart, successful female entrepreneur. Before opening her women's cycling and athletic boutique in 2010, she worked for a bike shop to understand prospective customers. She invested $500 for a tiny inventory of women's biking apparel that she spun into $1,500 in sales at an area bike race. Bylenga also asked the Clemson Regional Small Business Development Center for advice, connected with a retired retail exec through the U.S. Small Business Administration's SCORE program and tapped her own network to find mentors. "I've had to push through at every stage, and there have been setbacks, but the demand is there and growing," says Bylenga, whose shop is profitable today.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Female entrepreneurs are required to work tirelessly to earn their well-deserved spot in the corner office and at the head of the table. Yet statistics show that more often than not, hard work literally doesn't pay when women are at the helm of a company. Only 3 percent of money from venture capitalists and 4 percent of commercial loans go to female entrepreneurs -- even as the number of women-owned businesses continues to skyrocket. According to the 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report from American Express OPEN, "Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45 percent, compared to just a 9 percent increase among all businesses." Still, the language venture capitalists use to describe female entrepreneurs is tinged with negativity -- words and phrases like "high maintenance" and "cautious" are viewed as traits that could lead to disaster.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: female entrepreneurs are required to work tirelessly to earn their deserved spot in the corner office and at the head of the table. Yet statistics show that more often than not, hard work literally doesn't pay when women are at the helm of a company. Only 3% of money from venture capitalists and 4% of commercial loans go to female entrepreneurs even as the number of women-owned businesses continues to skyrocket. According to the 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report from American Express OPEN, "Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45%, compared to just a 9% increase among all businesses." Still, the language venture capitalists use to describe female entrepreneurs is tinged with negativity -- words and phrases like "high maintenance" and "cautious" are viewed as traits that could lead to disaster.

You don't have to be a Go champion to have artificial intelligence change your game. You get in your car and your Apple iPhone tells you what traffic looks like where you're going--before you ask. We're all on the road with Tesla's self-driving cars, which are redefining what driving means. The artificial-intelligence, calendar-assistant "Amy" emails three of your friends to figure out a meeting time that works for everyone--and nails it. Thankfully, chatting with Amazon's Alexa is a lot more entertaining than, say, chatting would be with Hal, the fictional artificial intelligence from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

If you're a female entrepreneur looking for resources, say Hello Alice. Launched by Dell and Circular Board, Hello Alice is a machine-learning platform designed for female entrepreneurs. The platform has a friendly, how-can-I-help-you approach, and offers information on strategy, financing, technology and other topics. It also connects women to mentors, experts and events. As more women use the platform, it will get smarter, eventually predicting a user's needs and offering targeted content based on a startup's size, location, industry and other factors.

On Tuesday, the Dell and the Circular Board launched Hello Alice, a new machine-learning platform designed specifically for female entrepreneurs. The platform will connect users with information, mentors, referrals, and other resources. According to Dell, Alice will get "smarter" as more entrepreneurs join and use the service, ultimately getting to the point where it can predict users' needs and provide hyper-targeted content based on factors like the startup's stage, location, industry, and revenue. The platform is friendly and chatty in the way or Siri or Alexa. When you log in, it asks, "What can I help you with?" and offers a drop-down menu, including options like financing, strategy, and technology.