" Who is automation going to hurt? People who are not represented in its creation. " Timnit Gebru

In 2016 Timnit Gebru attended an AI conference and counted the number of black people she saw out of the 5000 people in attendance. The answer was 6. This launched her mission to connect with other black people in AI. She had created a mailing list in 2015 and began to aggressively seek out people to add to the list. After meeting her co-founder, Rediet Abebe, at Cornell she began to ramp up her efforts.

In 2017 Black in AI hosted its first workshop at NeurIPS 2017 (Neural Information Processing Systems) with invited talks, oral presentations, a poster session and a dinner. The goals of the workshop were to create visibility for black researchers, facilitate networking and discover ways to increase representation in AI. Black in AI provided scholarships, which covered travel expenses and NeurIPS registration costs, for many workshop participants.

Black in AI has continued its work providing more workshops with opportunities for Black researchers to present their work. The group now exceeds 1000 members around the world.   The membership directory is a resource for conference organizers in AI to find a diverse group of qualified researchers to speak at their conferences. The group is now seeking 501c3 status and are applying for grants to help fund more programs.

"In a perfect world, when we've made our goal, we will not to need to exist anymore because there is so much representation in AI everyone will forget that they are black. They will forget that there is a barrier or a reason to feel isolated or a reason to be treated differently, that there is a reason feel unwelcome or drop out," said Timnit Gebru, co-founder Black in AI.

The next major workshop will be held at NeurIPS 2019 in Vancouver Canada. Black in AI encourages everyone to join their organization as a member or an ally. As part of their forums Black in AI keeps a record of the positive impact the organization has had. Members have received jobs, launched collaborations, and received invitations to speak. Next steps are to raise money to further increase its impact by funding university scholarships and conference participation. To learn more and become a member or ally go to https://blackinai.github.io/

Launched in 2018, the LatinX in AI Coalition (LXAI) bridges communities, academics, industry, and politicians working to further AI innovation and resources for LatinX individuals globally. LXAI hosts research workshops at AI academic conferences, drives and supports research, development, and infrastructure programs to boost innovation and capabilities of Latin Americans working in Artificial Intelligence. LXAI has had a direct impact on the presence of members of the LatinX community at Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning conferences through their research workshops, growing representation at conferences from 5 or 6 LatinX to 70 to 100.

Research has shown that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to displace workers of marginalized populations including those of LatinX origin.  LXAI is focused on creating opportunities in AI for LatinX. Their public directory of LatinX individuals active in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science serves as a repository of role models for Latinx individuals outside of tech, and a resource for potential speakers for conferences and events. The organization has scaled to over 1000 members and is continuing to grow.  

LXAI has also implemented an infrastructure and development program to help support South American institutions and better enable them to compete with other countries.  Companies may now donate equipment and resources and LXAI will manage a call for nominations to help place the equipment

LXAI's next research workshop will be held at ICML 2019 (International Conference on Machine Learning) in Long Beach CA on June 10, 2019.  The workshop will include invited speakers, presentations, posters, and a mentoring session.

Laura Montoya, President of the LatinX in AI Coalition said "LatinX in AI is working with LatinX people throughout the AI pipeline on a multifaceted approach, from hosting info sessions and tutorials for the general population who will be impacted by the changes that AI will bring to their lives, to connecting them with retraining programs for people whose jobs will be eliminated because of AI, to improving representation in AI research and development."

The LatinX in AI Coalition is fiscally sponsored by the Accel AI Institute, 501(c)3 Non-Profit. 

Interested in joining LXAI? Go to https://www.latinxinai.org/membership .