Commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace is more important than ever. But the reason is more practical than political. Artificial intelligence is slowly working its way into mainstream culture, making decisions on everything from what products hit your feed to if you receive approval on a loan or pass the first screening for a job.

“When you think about things like bias and ethics, having the diversity in terms of having male and female representation be equal is absolutely essential so that you’re creating fair AI, unbiased AI,” said Ritika Gunnar (pictured), vice president of data and AI expert services and learning at IBM Corp.

Gunnar spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the IBM Data and AI Forum in Miami, Florida. They discussed Gunnar’s career at IBM and why diversity in the workplace is so important in the digital era (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

This week, theCUBE spotlights Ritika Gunnar in its Women in Tech feature.

Imagining the art of the possible through technology

Artificial intelligence is only as good as the data that fuels it. If AI learns based on flawed data and partisan models, then it will come to false conclusions. IBM’s research found over 180 human biases that can creep into AI models.

The only way to create non-discriminatory and impartial AI is to make workplace demographics match the world at large, according to Gunnar.

“Not only being able to detect these things, but have the kind of diversity and the kinds of backgrounds of people who are building this AI, who are deploying this AI, is absolutely critical,” she said.

Gunnar’s passion has always been to merge the disciplines of business and technology. Her parents were both engineers, and she grew up loving math and science. A native Texan, she gained a bachelor’s degree in Applied Science in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin and followed it up with a master’s in business administration from the University’s acclaimed Red McCombs School of Business.

“I have always had this unwavering need to be able to marry business and the technology side and figure out how you can create the art of the possible,” she said. “So for me, it was the creativity piece of it where you can create something from nothing that really drove me to computer science.”

It took Gunnar just four years to climb the IBM ladder from software engineer to vice president of information integration and governance of the platform analytics group. Now, less than eight years after joining IBM, she leads the data and AI expert services and learning team.

When asked why so many women on the computer science and coding path don’t stick with it, Gunnar said, “I’m not sure why most women don’t stay with it. I’ve always had a career where I’ve coded…. Being able to create and work with clients to understand how they drive value and having that back and forth has been a really delightful part and the thing that drives me.”

IBM encourages diversity in the workforce

Gunnar has beaten the odds by sticking to her career in tech, but she doesn’t consider her gender a factor within the IBM culture. “If you look at my peers, my lead for artificial intelligence, Beth Smith, [is] … female; a lot of my peers under [general manager of IBM data and Watson AI] Rob Thomas, all female,” she said.

IBM, which has a strong female presence in its senior leadership, actively mentors women in its workforce. Its GROW program — which stands for Guidance, Resources and Outreach for Women — actively supports women to expand their skills and accelerate their careers.

“We’ve absolutely seen a huge impact from that from a technology perspective in terms of more females staying in technology, wanting to go in those career paths,” Gunnar said.

Other programs, such as Women Leaders in AI, with its associated award list, are one way in which the Watson team at IBM is addressing the imbalance. “We want strong female leaders to be able to see that there is great representation of very technical, capable females in artificial intelligence that are doing amazing things to be able to transform their organizations and their business models,” Gunnar stated.

Coding is a basic skill for the next generation

“What does that mean for me, Mom? What’s my job going to be?” Gunnar’s daughter asked her when she learned about IBM’s Watson intelligent question-answering computer system. Gunnar’s answer was simple: Gain the skills needed for the new-collar economy.

“What’s absolutely critical, not only today’s youth, but every person out there needs to have a foundational understanding … of what it means to code,” she said.

A negative experience at a boy-dominated coding camp led Gunnar’s daughter to think programming wasn’t for her. “When you don’t have that diversity and when you can’t really see how to progress yourself, it becomes a blocker,” Gunnar said.

She encouraged her daughter to attend girl-only coding classes. “It became something that she’s really passionate about,” Gunnar said. “Now, she’s Python programming.”

Girls and boys both have equal talent for learning to code; but girls have a skill that will give them the edge in the new economy: creativity.

“A lot of people who are really good in artificial intelligence come from backgrounds that are philosophy, sociology,” Gunnar said. “If you have the culture of curiosity and the ability to be able to learn, you can take the technology aspects. You can take those other aspects and blend them together.”

Diversity is essential to organizational success, according to Gunnar.

“I do think more women in technology, in leadership roles … is absolutely what we need,” she said. But “it’s not just women. It’s people of color; it’s people of different economic backgrounds. Because these differences in thought are the things that create new ideas that really innovate, that drive those business transformations, that drive the changes in the way that we do things.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM Data and AI Forum. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM Data and AI Forum. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE