The video explores the polarizing views about artificial intelligence (AI), discussing both fears and hopes regarding its impact on society. It addresses concerns about job losses and societal changes but also highlights the potential of AI in improving quality of life. The speaker emphasizes that these perspectives often originate from a tech industry lacking diversity, pointing out the small percentage of women in AI fields and advocating for more inclusive voices in the technology discourse.

To better shape the future involving AI and technology, the video suggests considering diverse perspectives and involving women and marginalized groups in technological advancement. It critiques the current tech mindset as myopic and economically driven, urging the need for critical consumption of technology by everyone. Drawing from various studies and reports, the speaker calls for a shift from the prevailing mindset that individuals are simply at the mercy of uncontrollable technological forces to one where communities are empowered to mold technology use and its societal role.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. exponential [ˌɛkspəˈnɛnʃəl] - (adjective) - Increasing rapidly at a constant rate. - Synonyms: (rapid, geometric, rising)

With exponential economic growth.

2. entrenched [ɪnˈtrɛnʧt] - (adjective) - Firmly established and unlikely to change. - Synonyms: (ingrained, established, fixed)

...tech industry that lacks diversity and operates in an entrenched mindset.

3. marginalized [ˈmɑːʤənəˌlaɪzd] - (adjective) - Treated as insignificant or peripheral. - Synonyms: (sidelined, disadvantaged, excluded)

Organizations like Girls who Code and the Algorithmic Justice Leave campaign support and empower women and other marginalized groups as creators of tack

4. volatile [ˈvɑːlətl] - (adjective) - Liable to change rapidly and unpredictably. - Synonyms: (unstable, unpredictable, erratic)

I kept coming across this concept of the VUCA world. volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous.

5. resilience [rɪˈzɪliəns] - (noun) - The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. - Synonyms: (fortitude, toughness, adaptability)

...we need to be fostering agility and resilience and 21st century skills.

6. cognitive [ˈkɑːɡnɪtɪv] - (adjective) - Relating to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning. - Synonyms: (mental, intellectual, rational)

The current discourse about the role technology plays in society is often oppositional. And reactive and deterministic.

7. deterministic [dɪˌtɜːrmɪˈnɪstɪk] - (adjective) - Related to the philosophy that all events, including moral choices, are determined by previously existing causes. - Synonyms: (predetermined, inexorable, unavoidable)

The current discourse about the role technology plays in society is often oppositional. And reactive and deterministic.

8. agility [əˈʤɪləti] - (noun) - Ability to move quickly and easily. - Synonyms: (nimbleness, dexterity, litheness)

...we need to be fostering agility and resilience and 21st century skills.

9. polarized [ˈpoʊləˌraɪzd] - (adjective) - Divided into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs. - Synonyms: (divided, separated, contentious)

Are these extreme and polarized views about AI...

10. ambiguous [æmˈbɪɡjuəs] - (adjective) - Open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning. - Synonyms: (vague, unclear, equivocal)

I kept coming across this concept of the VUCA world. volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous.

Changing the tech landscape, one choice at a time - Rachel Evans - TEDxCroydon High School GDST

We've all seen the headlines. AI is coming for our jobs. In the near future, millions of us will be out of work. And combined with global political upheaval and autonomous AI weapons, it's the end of humanity. Or AI will free us all to live lives of unparalleled ease and luxury. With exponential economic growth. AI will help us tackle the climate crisis and provide personalized education and healthcare for all. Are these extreme and polarized views about AI really the whole story about the impact it's going to have on society? These perspectives seem to me to come from a tech industry that lacks diversity and operates in an entrenched mindset. But if we listen carefully, I think we can hear some other voices, in particular women's voices, and they might be saying something different.

Studies show that globally only one third of tech workers are women. And in AI, it's only 22% of those working in research and development who are women. We've put a lot of focus on getting more women into STEM in building those numbers in the hope of impacting how products are developed. Women have been raising their voices for years about discrimination, lack of diversity, and the human and environmental impact of AI and technology. Organizations like Girls who Code and the Algorithmic Justice Leave campaign support and empower women and other marginalized groups as creators of tack. But what if we turn the problem the other way around? Every one of us and our communities have the ability to be a consumer and a critical consumer of technology, and every one of us can be an active participant in society. We could choose another lens through which to view this problem and maybe have a more productive public conversation and maybe even change the future.

It seems to me that the prevailing view about AI is that we ordinary people are going to have no choice about how and when we'll use it. We're all going to be swept forward on a rising tide of tech innovation, and we just have to deal with it. If we don't get on board, we'll be left behind in the workplace or education. When I first started researching the intersection of technology and society, which is fascinating, I kept coming across this concept of the VUCA world. volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous. The Internet tells me that this was first used in the US Army War College in 1987, but I cannot find an accurate source for that. And it's really interesting to me that this is the origin story we've given this concept that's driving our mindset, even if it's not true. The current discourse about the role technology plays in society is often oppositional. And reactive and deterministic. It positions us as victims of forces we can't control and don't understand and problems that are in need of solutions.

Organizations like the World Economic Forum tell us, particularly in education, that we need to be fostering agility and resilience and 21st century skills. Technology is often part of the solution, even when it's been part of the problem. Arguably, these qualities we're told we need are individual. They're not collective or structural. We don't set out to change the world, but to work within it, within the boundaries set for us. It lets us forget that all the technology we have has arisen from human decisions and choices. So how might this world view impact young people in our society? The Girl Guiding Girls futures report for 2023 focused specifically on the experiences and future aspirations of girls and young women in the uk. Unsurprisingly, mental health and financial worries are high on their agenda and the majority have also experienced upsetting misogynistic activity and content. They're feeling the pressure of a still unequal society.

Only 29% say that they get the same opportunities as boys most of the time. Young women's learning priorities are creativity, teamwork, entrepreneurship, public speaking. Their concerns about the future often focus on their individual qualities and skills. And it links back to that VUCA concept where it's your personal attributes that will help you survive and thrive in this complex, complex, confusing world. There's room for optimism too, with incredible responses around their participation in volunteering. Over 50% of girls and young women responding are regularly working in their communities. Of course, it's part of the girl Guiding model, but I still found that really heartening. And it's also really interesting that specifically girls of color see themselves wanting to develop tech and digital skills. That message about there being a place for them in that industry must really be landing.

And what do young people think about AI? A global UN report from last year found that an incredible 90% of young people feel really positive and optimistic and enthusiastic about AI. They do have worries and concerns, but they're really energized by ideas around the environment and education and healthcare. So we can see that young people are personally motivated and determined. They might be feeling the effects of our individualized and polarized society. There's an enthusiasm about AI, and girls in the UK certainly want to be in charge of their own futures. They have a strong sense of community. Can we use these ideas to turn the conversation around? The great Audre Lorde wrote, the Master's tools will never dismantle the Master's house. I think we need to reject this VUCA world concept as not helpful to our well being or to our progress or to our young people.

A feminist approach to technology recognizes the experience of those who are marginalized, gives voice to a more diverse range of people, challenges a status quo in the tech industry and the tech world that harms women and girls. By making the world better for women and girls, we could make the world better for everyone. We can read about these ideas in a rising number of fantastic books and podcasts and programs from really powerful feminist thinkers in this area. If we approach technology with this different feminist lens, we'll see things really differently. A feminist approach could let us create a new future rather than doing more of what we have already. We might work to create a collaborative open source software. We can choose AI that is trained ethically and fairly respecting other people's rights. We can challenge facial recognition systems that discriminate against whole groups of people in society. We can be environmentally aware, rejecting power and water hungry AI systems and the latest unrepairable phone.

We could break out of this VUCA world and take a new approach with humility and vulnerability and optimism. In doing this, I hope we'd be addressing these concerns that we know young people share. We could not adapt, but disrupt the system. In my own work, I'd like a world where new technologies make lifelong learning possible with more flexibility to really suit all learners. I dream of a collaborative online learning platform where people own their own data. We'd have hybrid and blended community schools and colleges that we could return to throughout our lives. We can make this happen with talented and diverse teams of technologists. But we can also make it more possible by actively resisting approaches and technologies and maybe even big tech companies that take us further away from that goal. Every one of us and our communities has agency. What we choose and what we reject, where we put our energy and attention. We don't need to wait for someone else to change the world. We can do it together.

Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Education, Women In Tech, Diversity And Inclusion, Feminist Approach, Tedx Talks