An AI humanist: Nancy Nemes and the power of inclusion in tech
My key goal in Artificial Intelligence today is to create and activate bridges of collaboration across disciplines. In today’s complex environment, the only way to be successful is to have a clear opinion of what AI means for your particular area of expertise. And for me, it means a strong focus on data privacy and security, education and diversity and inclusion in the broadest sense.
The first time I heard Nancy Nemes speaking was at our first Berlin WaiTime in March 2020. She had recently published her new book ‘The Proust QuestionnAIre — Artificial Intelligence in a stunningly diverse way’ — 22 questions on AI answered by top global experts, from philosophers to business people, to tech-people to anthropologists -, and had an inspiring speech about the future of AI and new technology post-Coronavirus.
Nancy has a long and international career, having lived in 5 countries (United States, Germany, Romania, Italy and France). She started working with emerging technology in 1995 and spent about 15 years at Microsoft leading up various businesses across the world. Including IOT in its early days. After Microsoft, she moved to Google to run their AI-based Hardware business for the DACH and Benelux regions, Manager Hardware Sales and Partnerships at Google covering the DACH regions and bringing to the market products like the Pixel smartphone and the voice assistant device Google Home.
Besides these professional achievements, Nancy is the founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer of #humanAIze — a venture to accelerate Artificial Intelligence in Europe. The mission is to reach 10 Million women (which means reaching 20 Million humans regardless of gender) with AI in Europe by 2023 through Education, Ecosystems, and People-centric activities. In less than 1.5 years, she has built a global cross-disciplinary community of 110 deep tech AI experts and jointly reached 500,000 women in their online and offline AI activities.
In January 2019, Nancy was named as one of “the most inspiring businesswomen in European technology” by the international organization InspiringFifty. She is a respected speaker on emerging trends, is serving on several boards, is a member of the EU Alliance for AI, a member of the Council of Experts at Bitkom and a Judge for the MIT Innovators under 35 programme. Nancy speaks fluently six languages.
Personally, what I find most inspiring about Nancy is the fact that she defines herself as a rational optimist, a humanist and a world citizen. Her interest in tech is always accompanied by profound respect for humans and humanity in general, making her a unique role model and us lucky to have had the chance to connect with her.
Do you want to connect with Nancy?
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About Women in Technology
Women in Technology is an initiative of Women in AI Germany promoting contemporary female figures who are playing an active role in shaping the future of AI and new technologies. In this series, we paint the profiles of inspiring contemporary women with the hope to contribute to the diffusion of their inspiring stories and to sensibilize future generations. Are you one of these women or do you have somebody in mind who we should feature in this series? Get in touch with us on LinkedIn or send an e-mail to mirea@womeninai.co if you want to collaborate with us.
