Tech’s diversity crisis is baking bias into AI systems

As an Afro-Latina woman with degrees in computer and electrical engineering, Maya De Los Santos hopes to buck a trend by forging a career in AI, a field dominated by white men.

AI needs her, experts and observers say.

Built-in viewpoints and bias, unintentionally imbued by its creators, can make the fast-growing digital tool risky as it is used to make significant decisions in areas such as hiring processes, health care, finance and law enforcement, they warn.

“I’m interested in a career in AI because I want to ensure that marginalized communities are…