Giugno, 2022

Women-led startups received just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. The venture capital industry remains male-dominated, both among decision-makers and the entrepreneurs who are successful in their pitches for investment. For Black founders, the gap is even wider, with only 1.2% of VC funding in the U.S. going to Black-led startups in 2021.

Mentorship and access to resources are critical to closing the startup funding gap. To connect underrepresented founders to the right people and practices to help them grow, today we’re opening up applications for the Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders in North America. Applications are open now through July 28, 2022.

Google for Startups Accelerators are ten-week programs of intensive workshops and expert mentorship for revenue-generating tech startups. Founders receive virtual mentoring and technical support from Google engineers and external experts tailored to their business, without giving up equity in return.

To learn more about the impact of Google for Startups Accelerator mentorship on participating founders, we sat down with alumnae Ingrid Polini, cofounder and CEO of document management startup SAFETYDOCS Global, and Tiffany Whitlow, cofounder and Chief Development Officer of Acclinate, a digital health startup helping pharmaceutical companies diversify clinical trials by accessing and engaging communities of color. Ingrid was part of the 2021 Accelerator: Women Founders class, and Tiffany and her cofounder Del Smith were selected for both Accelerator: Black Founders and the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in 2021.

What is one piece of advice you would share with founders who are considering applying for a Google for Startups Accelerator?

Ingrid: Be as open as you can about your business, so the team can really help you. Be present, participate and ask questions, because in the end, you’re applying your scarce time to it as a founder.

Tiffany: Go for it. The resources and ecosystem are invaluable.

Visit Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders to learn more about the programs, including details on how to apply.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a form of artificial intelligence that teaches computer programs how to take in, interpret, and produce language from large data sets. For example, grammar checkers use NLP to come up with grammar suggestions that help people write grammatically correct phrases. But as Google’s AI Principles note, it’s sometimes necessary to have human intervention to identify risks of unfair bias.

Sunipa Dev is a research scientist at Google who focuses on Responsible AI. Some of her work focuses specifically on ways to evaluate unfair bias in NLP outcomes, reducing harms for people with queer and non-binary identities. Sunipa’s work was recently featured at a workshop at the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAcct) conference in Seoul, Korea.

In our interview, she emphasizes that her work is achievable only through forging collaborative partnerships between researchers, engineers, and AI practitioners with everyday users and communities.

What inspired you to take on this career path?

While working on my PhD at the University of Utah, I explored research questions such as, “How do we evaluate NLP tech if they contain biases?” As language models evolved, our questions about potential harms did, too. During my postdoc work at UCLA, we ran a study to evaluate challenges in various language models by surveying respondents who identified as non-binary and had some experience with AI. With a focus on gender bias, our respondents helped us understand that experiences with language technologies cannot be understood in isolation. Rather, we must consider how these technologies intersect with systemic discrimination, erasure, and marginalization. For example, the harm of misgendering by a language technology can be compounded for trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals who are already fighting against society to defend their identities. And when it’s in your personal space, like on your devices while emailing or texting, these small jabs can build up to larger psychological damage.

What is your current role at Google?

I am currently a Research Scientist at the Responsible AI – Human Centered Technology team. In my current role, I am working to build a better understanding of how to avoid unfair bias in AI language models across different cultures and geographies, aligned with Google’s AI Principles.

This is a challenge because language changes, and so do cultures and regional laws as we move from one place to another. This can all impact how people express themselves, what identities they choose and how they experience discrimination on a daily basis. Gender bias can manifest in entirely different ways in different parts of the world. In some of my ongoing work that focuses on a non-Western point of view, we are working with social scientists and NGOs in India while engaging with local communities. We are using the voices of many people who are living in a specific region and asking, “What are the biases prevalent in their society?”

What is gender bias in NLP?

Written text and training data for language technologies can lack representation or misrepresent different gender identities; this can reflect social biases. As a result, some NLP technologies can reinforce gender stereotypes and slurs, erase people’s gender identities, or have reduced quality of service for marginalized communities. What drives me in my work is my goal to make language technologies more inclusive and usable.

Why does this matter for AI?

Gender can be such an integral part of someone’s identity, and having that wrongly assumed by an AI system can be triggering, unfair, and harmful. We need to work towards systems and societies that do not encode unfair biases and harmful stereotypes in order to break out of the cycle of perpetuating harms of stereotyping, misgendering, and erasure.

How can people who are not researchers, engineers or AI practitioners engage in this work?

A very direct way is for people to report potential harms as bugs within products they use. People can also participate in open discussions in workshops, panels and town halls. These are all helpful ways to build inclusive AI.

I want to emphasize, however, that the onus can’t only be on the user. It’s also on the side of the researcher, engineer and AI practitioner. The goal is to create a continuous feedback loop between humans and machines, with real people stepping in to ensure the creation of more responsible AI. As AI practitioners, we need to work with the people we’re trying to serve and have users collaborate with us to tell us what we need to do better.

Craving a different type of drive this summer? Go on a high-seas adventure without stepping off land. Activate Waze’s latest driving experience, inspired by Netflix’s newest movie,“The Sea Beast.” (Check out the trailer and the film on Netflix July 8.)

Starting today, you’ll meet the dynamic duo of Maisie, a precocious stowaway, and Blue, a little beast with a huge mischief streak, and revel in the unlikely comedy of their friendship as they help you navigate every turn you take on Waze. And don’t worry: Maisie will help translate Blue’s sounds for you. You’ll also get to know some other Beasts that they find on their journey when you choose between three new Moods: Blue, Red and Yellow. Don’t forget to swap your vehicle for a Lifeboat, to get into the true adventurer’s spirit.

With Sea Beast Mode activated, get ready to explore the world together, on a journey full of surprise, wonder and funny banter — because where the map ends, the adventure begins.

If you’re interested in seeing the magic in real life, Netflix is hosting a series of experiences across the U.S. at aquariums, museums and more to celebrate the launch of The Sea Beast.

For a drive that takes you to the seas, visit Waze or click “My Waze” in your Waze app and tap the “Turn on Sea Beast Mode” banner to activate. It’s available globally, in English, for a limited time.