"To Prevent a Second Lee Luda... Need to Address Data Bias and Expand Gender Diversity"

Discussion Forum on the Expansion of Gender Equality Policies in the AI Field Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Amid social controversy over gender stereotypes and hate speech in the AI chatbot 'Iruda,' there are calls to expand research support and promote gender diversity among AI personnel to address data bias during AI technology development.

On the 13th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held a forum titled "Spreading Gender Equality Policies in the AI Field" at the Fusion Hall of the KI Building at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. This forum was organized to gather opinions from academia and experts and discuss policy improvement measures based on the research results of the "Gender-Specific Impact Assessment on AI Technology Research and Professional Workforce Development Policies."

Professor Choi Moon-jung of KAIST, who gave the keynote presentation, analyzed the organizational culture and gender status of professionals in the AI field, as well as ethical policies for professionals, and proposed measures for more gender-equal and ethical AI development.

Professor Choi explained that to eliminate gender stereotype biases during AI development planning, data collection and processing, and development stages, it is necessary to develop datasets for verifying algorithm bias and increase gender diversity in the AI industry workforce.

The proportion of female workers in the software industry is only 17.8%, and the proportion of female software professionals in companies engaged in AI business is just 19.1%. The percentage of female faculty members in AI graduate schools is only 7.1%.

Regarding the survey results, Professor Choi said, "It is urgent to develop training Korean language datasets with reduced bias and datasets for bias verification to resolve data and algorithm bias." She added, "The gender equality awareness verification results showed that AI professionals, similar to the general public, had lower gender equality awareness as age increased and among males, indicating the need for active intervention to improve gender equality awareness among middle-aged and older adults."

Professor Choi proposed ▲ increasing social interest and research support for responsible AI and ethical issues ▲ developing and implementing AI ethics education according to life cycles ▲ identifying gender status in AI research personnel and businesses ▲ supporting research and commercialization of female AI scientists and engineers.

In the comprehensive discussion, participants discussed ways to promote gender-equal AI policies, including resolving bias in accumulated information, securing gender diversity among research and development personnel, providing ethics education, and improving organizational culture in related companies.

They exchanged views on the necessity of incorporating a gender perspective at each stage of AI research, development, and evaluation, the importance of convergence education that views science and technology from a humanities and social sciences perspective, and the need to link policies for fostering and supporting female scientists and engineers.

Yoon Hyung-joo, Associate Research Fellow at the Women’s Policy Institute, said, "Gender innovation, which has been rapidly institutionalized in advanced countries in science and technology such as Europe and the United States, has not been sufficiently adopted in the domestic research and development field." She added, "Only when a consensus on gender innovation is formed will policies for fostering and supporting female scientists and engineers gain momentum."

Professor Jeon Chi-hyung of the KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy pointed out, "It is not that things change simply because female developers are involved, but whether women's perspectives and voices are seriously accepted within research and development organizations is the issue." He emphasized, "Beyond increasing the proportion of female personnel from 10% to 20%, gender must be considered a key perspective at every stage of AI education, research, development, and evaluation."

Based on the opinions from this forum, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to consult with related ministries and recommend improvements to relevant institutions such as the Ministry of Science and ICT in the first half of this year after review and resolution by the Central Gender Impact Assessment Committee to promote gender-equal AI policies.

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Jung Young-ae stated, "It is important to strive to ensure that AI fully reflects gender sensitivity and ethics." She added, "I hope that gender diversity in the workforce and organizational culture in the science and technology fields that develop and utilize AI will increase, and that gender awareness education for developers will spread, leading to the establishment of more gender-equal AI policies in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.