We are Black in Ai

AI is a technological revolution. It’s also an expanding opportunity—to advocate for Black representation in policies and practices, to mirror the global diaspora we live in and serve, to remedy technology’s exclusionary past and demand an equitable future.

As a collective of academics, entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, engineers, researchers, executives, advocates and subject matter experts in this ecosystem, Black in AI has recognized AI’s possibilities and cautioned its biases from its very beginning.

Mission and Vision

We aim to shift the power dynamic across the AI Ecosystem to broaden the range of voices contributing to the development, deployment, and regulation of AI technology. Thinking forward, we envision a barrier-free field that empowers our community to contribute and accelerate their best, most brilliant work for themselves, fellow practitioners, and their global ecosystems.

Why We Exist

Our origin story is a fundamental response to necessity. In 2016, at the Neural Information Systems Conference in Barcelona, computer scientist Timnit Gebru counted just six Black people out of 5,500 attendees, and that was including herself. If our representation was that scant at the world’s largest international academic AI conference where scientists network, present their research, and forge critical career-changing opportunities, she reasoned, more localized conferences were very likely even less diverse. Somebody had to do something.

Later that year, Gebru—the first Black woman to be hired as a research scientist at Google in the United States—brainstormed a solution with fellow history-maker Rediet Abebe, the first Black woman to earn a PhD in computer science from Cornell University and the first Black woman to become a tenure-track professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Together, they co-founded Black in AI as a membership organization in 2017 and finalized its 501(c)(3) in 2018. To date, we’ve granted more than $1 million to support some 400+ AI practitioners to be present at major conferences. We don’t always have official numbers, but our goal is to never count just six of us at any premier event ever again.

Leadership
and Expertise

Board of Directors

USA

Gelyn C. Watkins

CEO
USA

Ezinne Nwankwo

Secretary
USA

Sanmi Koyejo

President
USA

Simone Bartlett

Treasurer
USA

Afua Bruce

Director

Advisory Board

USA

Makinde Adeagbo

USA

Ayanna Howard

USA

Brandeis Marshall

USA

Rodney Sampson

Core Team

USA

Breauna Spencer

Director of Programs
USA

Marquita Riggins

Assistant to the CEO/Special Projects Manager
Brazil

Mírian Silva

Website Support
USA

Isaac Donis

Impact Strategy Lead
France

Temilade Adekoya

Corporate Sponsorship Lead
USA

Sahar Ali Dar

Senior Program Manager, Educational & Career Pathways
USA

Janae Brooks

Communications Lead
Morocco

Yunusa Simpa Abdulsalam

Senior Program / Research Lead, Educational & Career Pathways

Community Advisory Council

Canada

Victor Silva

Community Advisor
USA

Hassan Kane

Community Advisor

Past Sponsors

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