• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 17, 2019

The AI industry is facing a “diversity crisis,” according to new research from the AI Now Institute. Only 18% of authors at leading AI conferences are women, and more than 80% of AI professors are men, the nonprofit found.

Women comprise only 15% of AI research staff at Facebook and 10% at Google.

According to the researchers, there is currently no public data on trans workers or other gender minorities, but the statistics can’t be encouraging.

For blacks, the landscape is even bleaker.

In fact, only 2.5% of Google’s workforce is black, while Facebook and Microsoft are at 4% each.

“Given decades of concern and investment to redress this imbalance, the current state of the field is alarming,” the researchers assert. “The AI sector needs a profound shift in how it addresses the current diversity crisis.”

The influence of AI can’t be overstated.

Among other major investors, AI spending by retailers will reach about $12 billion by 2023, according to Juniper Research.

By 2030, McKinsey expects AI’s impact on the global economy to exceed $13 trillion. AI will add about 1.2% of additional GDP growth per year through to 2030, according to the consultancy.

AI’s biggest impact is likely to be witnessed in the labor market.

McKinsey has estimated that AI-born automation will save corporations around $9 trillion by 2030, while the cost to workers is incalculable.