By Cayman Compass Contributor Lynn Markoff
Women’s prominent role in leading Cayman’s adaptation of artificial intelligence innovations was the topic of discussion at an event held on 21 Nov. at the Camana Bay Cinema.
Created by Story Studio in partnership with Tech Cayman, and sponsored by Highvern, the ‘Women in AI Fireside Chat’, was the second of two talks designed to make artificial intelligence accessible and encourage more women to use it.
Lissette Anez, founder of Story Studio & Sparktoria, moderated three panelists: Tamsin Deasey-Weinstein, director at UCCI; Lucia Gallardo, founder of Emerge & AeraTech and an ‘MIT Innovator Under 35’; and Rachel Hartley, senior quality engineer at Tenet.
Anez said, “The reason we created Women for AI and the AI series was because something unique is happening in Cayman. Most of the people who are taking steps forward for AI adoptions are women. And this does not happen in other cities overseas.”
To describe the personal relationships with AI and because the event was in a cinema, Anez asked panelists, “If your life was a movie with AI in it, what type would it be?”
Deasey-Weinstein said that her life-as-a-movie would be a mystery. “I think one of the great things about AI is that nobody knows where it’s going. This is a conversation that I have often with people because I get asked about the future of AI. The crazy thing is that we can all guess and predict, but nobody knows. Even the people who build the AI models, especially the ones using neural networks, which are the more intelligent ones, they don’t know how they are creating the output.”
Hartley’s movie choice was a comedy. “In my experience, AI gives you funny things. It doesn’t go where I think it’s going to go and does things that are odd. By the end of the day, I’m laughing because of where I ended up.” she said.
Gallardo equated her experience to more of a Star Wars rebellion “because so many things are happening at the same time”.
To build a relationship with AI, Deasey-Weinstein encouraged people to experiment and just try one thing and go from there. She shared an example. “Gemini upgraded and brought out a new model. Within a few minutes of playing around with it, I had built a Pac-Man game for our little boy, an infographic with a picture of me, and I turned a sketch into a 3D model.”
Education
On the topic of education, Deasey-Weinstein said “The whole world is behind. We are behind in Cayman, mainly because it moves so fast, we can’t keep pace. We need a unified, mandated education system here. I believe that it should be mandated in schools from primary school. I also believe that workforce development is important and that it needs to be fully funded so that it’s equitable – everybody can access it.”
Hartley said, “It’s through education that you create that culture of getting everyone to buy into AI. A big part for us was to push for curiosity for people to explore and thinking of things in new and different ways and not be afraid of failure.”
AI risks
Risks associated with AI including cyber threats and lack of human connection were raised. Deasey-Weinstein said, “When it first came out and exploded, it ran really fast. Now the guardrails are coming in.”
Gallardo said, “This notion of fear is systemic, but there’s always going to be someone pushing in the opposite direction. The reality is people do want connection and ultimately AI has tried to create a response to that, like any free capital market would.”
All speakers warned audience members to be cautious with their data. Gallardo stressed that each AI application is developed by a business that has self-interest objectives, and people should not lose sight of that.
The panelists are part of the National Digital Transformation Strategy Taskforce that will be looking at three pillars: digital trust; intelligence and transformation; and digital assets and economic growth. Deasey-Weinstein said, “We are looking at best practice globally and building a blueprint for Cayman. We know what works for Singapore or the UK won’t work for us, so it will be tailored for us.”
Lynn Markoff is a freelance journalist who has written for publications in the Cayman Islands since 2017.
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