Durban — Moving into the global light is Durban businesswoman Nazareen Ebrahim, who has been named among 100 Brilliant Women in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics 2024.
Ebrahim, 40, from Phoenix, with expertise in media, communication and technology, is a specialist at Naz Consulting International. She was ranked for her contributions in public education work on artificial intelligence roles and rights.
The list was announced at the Women in AI Ethics (WAIE) annual summit in New York recently.
WAIE is a global initiative to increase recognition, representation and empowerment of women in AI ethics. It started with the first 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list in 2018 and is now published annually to recognise rising stars as well as pioneers in this space. This year they recognised 100 new hidden figures making important contributions in this critical space.
“The list is a critical marker of success to showcase the work being done. To have this kind of credibility lends weight to the voice you have in the tech spaces in South Africa. The tech industry is still highly male-dominated and receiving acknowledgement in these spaces further strengthens the role of women in tech in South Africa,” said Ebrahim.
“My role has been to contribute towards public spaces that allow people to understand their role as digital citizens, paving the way for them to make the right choices.”
Ebrahim was among 100 women selected from 600 nominees.
“The mandate of the Women in AI Ethics is to represent under-represented or hidden voices that showcase the diversity of women working in the artificial intelligence space.”
Ebrahim said she had talked nationally and internationally about ethics in AI from the perspective of being a South African Indian woman and being Muslim in a communication space.
“An AI ethicist can be called into projects, situations, dialogues and collaborative regulatory discussions to articulate or understand what are the elements of AI as a technology that can potentially pose a threat or a risk when being applied as an end user,” she said.
Ebrahim said her interest in technology had been paired with media and communication.
She said her role for the new year would be to create ecosystems and an environment in which people understood what ethics meant in the context of AI.
“I look back on my year and it has indeed been a year of extensive public education work on AI roles and rights, which I hope to intensify and strengthen going into 2024,” she said.
Ebrahim is also the director of the Minara Chamber of Commerce and an advisory board member at the South African AI Association.
Sunday Tribune