VentureBeat announced the winners of the sixth annual Women in AI Awards yesterday at VB Transform. 

The awards recognize and honor the women leaders and changemakers in the field of AI. The nominees were submitted by the public and winners were chosen by a VentureBeat committee. They were selected based on their commitment to the industry, their work to increase inclusivity in the field and their positive influence in the community. 

Winners were presented with awards by VentureBeat’s senior AI writer Miya David and chief strategy officer Gina Joseph. They were also joined by one of the 2019 winners, Noelle Russell.

Joseph emphasized the importance of the awards and the Women in AI breakfast. 

“We’re thrilled to be here today for the sixth Annual Women in AI Awards to support and recognize women leaders in AI,” she said in her opening remarks. “Together, we must make sure that leaders in AI truly represent the society at large, and that we continue to support women in technology.”

AI Entrepreneur: Bringing AI out of the lab and into the real world

This award honors a woman who has started companies now showing great promise in AI. Consideration was given to factors such as business traction, technology solutions and impact in the AI space.

This year’s winner is Jenny Dearing, co-founder and CEO of 1337. Dearing is pioneering a transformative shift towards co-creating content and simulating the life of AI entities, inventing new ways people engage with creators, brands and others online.

“Wow, what a poignant opportunity,” Dearing said during her acceptance speech at Transform. “We are at this moment and we have AI to bring out to humanity, it’s quite honestly what will be the largest technological change of our lifetime.”

She said her company is creating a platform to create and manage digital influencers at scale. “We’re doing so by marrying the digital pulse of AI, the human soul of creators, which is very important to maintain over time.”

AI Research: Fueling the next wave of transformative AI

This award honors a woman who has made a significant impact in AI research, helping accelerate progress either within her organization, as part of academic research or impacting AI generally.

Our winner is Payel Das, principal research scientist and manager at IBM Research- T.J. Watson Research Center. She is also an adjunct associate professor at the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics (APAM) at Columbia University and an IBM Master Inventor. Das has recently invented two ground-breaking foundation models in the modalities of molecules (MoLFormer) and natural language (Larimar).

Das was not able to attend the conference in person; however she sent in an acceptance video in which she said: “This is truly overwhelming to be awarded for my work here. Today I take this award on behalf of many women who are currently researching in AI and those who aspire to be an AI researcher in the future, as we are working to ensure the next generation of AI is more unbiased and inclusive.”

She said she believes that we can only be an AI-driven better future if that includes more women in the workforce at all levels, including leadership roles.

Das added: “I also want to emphasize that science has no boundaries, and I myself have pursued research at the intersection of AI and natural sciences. I’m sharing this to convey to the next generation of women AI scientists that you need to broaden your horizon and that will help you stand out.”

AI Mentorship: Building up the next generation of women in AI

This award honors a woman leader who has helped mentor other women in the field of AI, providing guidance and support and/or encouraging more women to enter the field.

This year’s winner is Reut Lazo, founder of Women And AI. Women in AI is a platform that aims to actively engage and empower women in the AI field, amplifying their voices and fostering a diverse community. She also hosts the Women and AI podcast to shine a light and uplift women in the AI field.

Lazo was not able to attend the conference in person, however she sent in an acceptance video. “First I want to express my deepest gratitude to VentureBeat for recognizing the importance of mentorship in AI, especially for women in this rapidly evolving field. The support symbolizes more than my individual achievement and represents a collective journey of many women who paved the way and those who will follow,” she said.

“As the founder of Women in AI Our mission has always been to shine the light on really women contributing to AI to our podcast and community. We share their stories of innovation, resilience and passion,” she added. 

“We have thousands of members involved in our community and making strides in the AI field,” she continued. “I couldn’t be prouder to work alongside you. Thank you to everyone for supporting women in AI.”

Responsibility & Ethics of AI: Thoughtfully building AI that leads to a better and more equitable world

This award honors a woman who demonstrates exemplary leadership and progress in the growing hot topic of responsible AI.

Our winner is Helen Gu, founder and CEO of InsightFinder. She is also a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University and leads a research group supported by more than $4.2 million in research grants from NSF, NSA, ARO, Google, IBM and Credit Suisse. She has published more than 80 research papers and has filed 10 patents (all of them have been granted).

During her acceptance speech at VB Transform, Gu said, “Thank you for such an incredible honor.”

She published her first paper about using neural networks to send video streaming from Mars to Earth, 23 years ago. “Back then very few people knew AI, but today it has become an integral part of our daily lives.”

Rising Star: Honoring women in the early stages of their career who demonstrate that ‘something special’

This award honors a woman in the early stage of her AI career who has demonstrated exemplary leadership traits.

This year’s winner is Ava Amini, senior researcher at Microsoft Research. In her role, Amini focuses on engineering new technologies for precision medicine by interfacing AI and biology. In addition to her work at Microsoft, Ava also cofounded and serves as director of Momentum AI, an outreach program that teaches AI to under-resourced high school students at no cost to them.

Amini was not able to attend the conference in person; however, she sent in an acceptance video in which she said: “Thank you so much for this incredible honor. I’m deeply grateful and thrilled to be recognized by VentureBeat as a rising star and I’m so privileged to work with my amazing colleagues at Microsoft and Microsoft research within an incredible and supportive environment to pioneer new technologies for precision medicine by interfacing AI and biology.”

We’d like to congratulate all of the women who were nominated to receive a Women in AI Award. Thanks to everyone for their nominations and for contributing to the growing awareness of women who are making a significant difference in AI.