At first, building a startup means growing as fast as you can before running out of money. You hire whoever’s available right now who you can afford. If you do that in a male-dominated field without thinking about it, you wind up with a ton of men. Left unchecked, that can create the sorts of toxic conditions for women we’ve been hearing so much about lately; at best, it’s terrible for business, since your team should reflect your customer base. So maintaining the status quo isn’t an option.
Ultimately, however, reducing bias in AI comes down to something as obvious as it is hard to achieve: having a diverse team building AI. Yes, there’s currently an underrepresentation of women in AI (and in STEM and IT in general), but it’s certainly possible to cultivate diverse teams, provided the right strategies are put in place.