iGIANT

Welcome to the iGIANT summit on AI! 

Impact of Gender/Sex on Innovation and Novel Technologies

Gender and sex impact every aspect of our daily lives. According to the National Academy of Medicine, “gender” refers to a person’s self representation as male or female based upon social interactions. “Sex” is based upon an individual’s genes. Understanding and using these definitions correctly have become more complicated by the enhanced knowledge of the environment on gene expression (epigenetics). Thus, sex and gender are sometimes used interchangeably.

This iGIANT summit on AI will examine the impact of gender/sex on innovation and novel technologies. The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming our world. Industry use cases and advances include, for example:

  • Automotive (e.g. the advent of self-driving car prototypes)
  • Retail (e.g. kitchen design options)
  • Manufacturing (e.g. designers iterating and collaborating in real-time to create digital objects that may one day become products)
  • Healthcare (e.g. training computers to read and understand context that may reveal insights to clinicians on disease prevention and detection or treatment recommendations)
  • Media and entertainment (e.g. gaming, head-mounted displays)
  • Education (e.g. employee training, pre-flight crew training)
  • Cognitive aides and virtual assistants

The Summit

Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) are extensions of human senses and the human brain’s visual processing power. These technologies have the potential benefits to reduce costs, enable faster time to market by fostering multi-disciplinary collaboration and rapid prototyping, and identify defects sooner. Human factors and behavioral health can influence the adoption of AI and cognitive technologies. Demographic considerations including sex/gender, age and culture must be examined to develop commercial solutions that are customizable, adaptable and suitable for an individual’s use.

We invite interested participants to join us to explore and discuss ways that AI, VR, AR, and MR have the potential to enrich the lives and safety of both sexes.

The iGIANT program was designed at the White House Office of Science and TechnologyPolicy. It consists of a series of roundtables, summits, innovation prizes, scholarships and a seal of approval to accelerate the translation of research into gender/sex-specific design elements. A design element can be a program, product, policy or protocol. Since its inception in 2016, there have been over 50 events around the globe and 3 challenge competitions.

The iGIANT is working toward giving men and women the tools, resources and opportunities to do their jobs safely and live well. It is the only organization in the world doing such work. More information about the iGIANT initiative is available at www.igiant.org.

The purpose of the iGIANT summit on AI is to establish a common dialog about best design practices and to inspire participants to serve as ambassadors for innovation. These events have convened stakeholders from government, industry, academia and advocacy groups.

Your Hosts

Saralyn Mark, MD – President and Founder, iGIANT

Jane Snowdon, PhD – Board Member, iGIANT

Karin Hollerbach, PhD – R&D, Engineering, Product Strategy, Presque

William S. Veatch, JD – Partner, Reed Smith

Chris Carberry – CEO, Explore Mars, Inc.

Eliza Lo Chin, MD, MPH  – Executive Director, American Medical Women’s Association

**** If you are actively engaged in AI research or its use or in policy-making around AI and are interested in attending this invitation-only summit in November, please send me a note. ****