Artificial Intelligence. Sounds clever, doesn’t it? Like something out of a futuristic film. But here’s the truth: AI isn’t neutral. It’s not just numbers and codes. It’s people. And that means it’s flawed.

You might think, “But machines can’t be biased, right?” I used to think the same. Then I learned that the data fed into AI often comes from systems that already overlook or misrepresent women. Especially Black women and women of Black heritage. And that’s when things start to go wrong. And badly wrong!

Did you know Algorithms have blind spots and that facial recognition technology is 34% more likely to misidentify darker-skinned women. Thirty-four percent! That’s not just a glitch. That’s a problem. Imagine being misidentified when you’re just trying to unlock your phone, or worse, when your identity is questioned by authorities.

And it’s not just about faces. Recruitment software has been known to quietly filter out names it doesn’t “recognise.” Healthcare algorithms sometimes fail to pick up conditions in black women and women of black heritage because the data they’re trained on doesn’t include enough of us. It’s not malicious. But it is damaging.

Women make up only about 22% of professionals in the AI industry. And Black women and women of Black heritage? Even fewer. Add in the fact that women in tech still earn less than men on average, and you can see the gap. Fewer voices at the table mean fewer perspectives. And fewer perspectives mean blind spots in the systems shaping our lives.

So when you feel overlooked at work. Or unheard in a conversation. Or underrepresented in the media. Think about this: the very same thing is happening inside the algorithms making big decisions about all of us.

Here’s a quote I love: “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” It makes you stop, doesn’t it?

We can’t sit back, and hope AI will magically “sort itself out.” We need more Black women and women of Black heritage. More lived experiences feeding into the tech of tomorrow. We need to keep asking the awkward questions. Who made this system? Whose data is it trained on? Whose voices are missing? And as everyday women, we need to stay informed. Speak up. Support young girls who want to study STEM. Question the systems we’re told are “neutral.” Because they’re not.

Remember, AI is here to stay. That’s not the scary bit. The exciting part is that it can be reshaped, redesigned, and reprogrammed. By you. By me. By us. So the next time you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” don’t switch off. Lean in. Be curious. Ask questions. And remember this: the future isn’t written in code. It’s written in community, in representation, and in the power of women like us.

Thought for you: If algorithms are learning from us, what do you want them to learn?

Caroline’s daughter, Diahanne xxx