The Futurist
Isha Karim on founding an AI podcast, her thoughts on science and humanities, and her vision for the future of females in tech
Isha Karim is a rising junior at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. She spends her time interning in research labs and working with nonprofits to make STEM more accessible to underserved communities. Isha is also the founder of rAIsing, a podcast dedicated to opening up the AI conversation to women in tech.
I had the opportunity to speak with Isha about her experiences in creating this podcast and her dedication to increasing diversity in the field of technology.
Tell us about the community you grew up in.
Growing up in the Silicon Valley, I’ve witnessed the rapid growth of tech companies and the culture that have permeated into the Bay Area’s social convictions, prompting a different type of social ethic: one based on non-stop progress. Having been raised in this “bubble,” I definitely was not immune to living a fast-paced life. Born to immigrants working in the tech world, I spent most of my childhood living in a sea of suburbs. Because STEM fields reign supreme in Bay Area culture, other disciplines sometimes fall by the wayside, making my holistic education difficult. My parents hoped I would pursue interests similar to theirs, tech based occupations that brought them to this country. Despite being in a vibrant community of STEM interested peers, I constantly received disparaging comments on my computer science projects by my teachers. I once had a female teacher in my coding class tell my parents that I would never be able to code. It was primarily the discouragement and pressure I felt that alienated me from pursuing STEM.
In a community where being Asian does not quite classify me as a minority, I felt the scrutiny of exclusion in other places. Attending a predominantly white high school, I noticed people of color constantly being the butt of racially charged jokes and comments by my peers and my teachers. I was constantly questioned about my racial identity with questions like, but where are you really from? Constantly, I stuck out like a sore thumb in the classroom. Despite the best intentions of my peers, I felt like a foreigner in my own skin. Because of that, I’ve always longed to be a part of a community of like-minded peers, which is part of the inspiration behind rAIsing.
Tell us the story behind rAIsing. What inspired you to create and host a podcast?
My freshman year summer was my first introduction to artificial intelligence. It was an apprehensive adventure to navigate; not only was it my first introduction to high level coding, but it was also my first time in a community of women in tech. rAIsing was the brainchild of many past — and might I say, failed — projects. I developed speaking events and panels that had never come to fruition. Despite the endless replies of “no, this isn’t the time, maybe later,” I couldn’t allow the discouragement to deter my course. The more I worked in artificial intelligence, in research labs and nonprofits, the more I realized how inaccessible the field had become.
I wish I had a more glamorous story to tell, but rAIsing came to be through a Spotify ad. After another failed project pitch in the car ride home, I was listening to a podcast when an ad for a podcasting platform came on. It suddenly clicked. I frantically tried to remember the information in the ad so I could google it afterwards. To be honest, a podcast just made perfect sense. For years, I had listened to podcasts on my own. The ebb and flow of conversation garnered my interest in a variety of topics. For a few days, my brainchild took shape through hundreds of search tabs and bookmarked web pages.
Out of the thousands of podcasts on Spotify, I discovered there were none on girls in AI.
It only added fuel to the fire; I was convinced that it was my responsibility to highlight the stories of women in AI. With rAIsing being the first of its kind, creating and hosting it professionally was a welcomed challenge. A podcast isn’t as structured as a book, so it has more opportunities for interesting tangents and divergences that make the listening more unpredictable. With rAIsing, I want to provide not only a platform, but also a safe space where girls can come together and broaden the AI conversation. Like myself, I hope that all of my listeners decide to take charge and forge their own path in AI. Increasing access to and the number of female voices crucial to expand such a dynamic, versatile field. Because we intend to take up space.
What was the biggest challenge in creating rAIsing?
My greatest challenge was the narrative. I had a name, an idea, even a slogan, but I could not finalize what the angle would be. It was a difficult process to undergo, primarily because I had no mentor in the field who could guide me. Even as the team expanded from one to four to fifteen, our colorful online community couldn’t agree on what we should talk about. With no other idea, I drafted episode after episode on more technical topics, “Unpacking Neural Networks,” “The Hero’s Guide to NLP.” I couldn’t make it past 3 minutes without distractions. Clearly, this wasn’t working out. After I went back to the drawing board, I drew inspiration from the beginning of this journey. I wanted to share stories, not concepts. So, what is the narrative? We are the narrative, personal, not technical. I want our stories and opinions to shape our narrative, rather than let technique and concept dictate it. Instead of explaining complicated topics, we needed to focus on the people behind them. So we discussed stories of past scientists and held teen panels. The narrative, which was so bogged down in concept, became what matters most, our stories and experiences.
AI is all about predicting the future. So when our world wants to do the same, I hope those around us listen to the voices shaping it.
What is your favorite topic that was featured in rAIsing? Why?
Every episode has its highs and lows, especially with the rollercoaster ride that is writing a podcast script! Personally, I enjoyed “Inquiring Minds,” where we discussed the intersection of science, politics, and society. Although these three topics seem completely unrelated, the episode unpacked how one school of thought impacts and drives another. In my opinion, I’ve always struggled with the singular approach many have to computer science: the skill of coding. Being an interdisciplinary student, I want to push the narrative that AI is so much more. My goal is to marry my interests in two seemingly opposing fields, STEM and political science. During the episode, we discussed the idea of STEM versus liberal arts. But it’s not a versus, it’s how we bring these two sides together. The notion that the liberal arts will rule the digital world is an homage to the fact that we need holistic thinkers. In the future, as technology solves more of the routine tasks, it actually forces us to become more human, more artistic, more creative, more empathetic, more communicative to solve and understand human problems.
Unpacking AI means understanding how race, power, privilege and oppression can be baked into algorithms and affect communities for the worse.
We need more people of color, more women in AI to prevent our algorithms from benefiting the upper echelons of society. Although the liberal arts have often been cast off as “creatives,” and thus untouchable by the tech world, we need to recognize that ideas like race and incarceration can be heavily explored by equitable machine learning practices. By bridging narratives and experiences of different communities, AI practitioners themselves must be diverse to address the many different issues, be it STEM related or not.
How has your heritage shaped your perspective?
My heritage has played the greatest role in shaping who I am today, and what I aspire for rAIsing to become. My heritage is a narrative extremely individual to me, yet paradoxically not. Being the daughter of Indian immigrants is a narrative that is very personal to me. The stories they tell and their lived experiences are elements of my personality that I hold dear. Oftentimes, I reflect on my identity as Indian-American as attached to my parents’ immigration to America. They instilled a pride for my culture, my ethnic roots, but also an appreciation for the opportunities afforded to me in America. The duality of life, both Indian and American simultaneously, is difficult to balance and understand. No matter where I go, I recognize that I may not instantly be thought of as American, simply because I don’t fit the bill of the “All American girl.” At face value, nothing is as simple as it seems, people included. My “Indian-ness” will be tempered by my community, my surroundings. Rather, my perspective will always analyze the world, not by what it looks on the outside, but for what it is on the inside. To examine the grey area and reject the binary will continue to influence my perspective. My heritage has taught me to be creative and flexible with my identity, to tread lightly but speak strongly.
When creating rAIsing, my heritage empowered me to pursue AI even further. Even though entering a space drastically different from my heritage daunted me, I want to use my cultural and ethnic identity to represent the diverse future of AI. People are impressed if you are a woman and doing something notable, forging your own path, as if that is rare. Instead, I hope that rAIsing serves as a reminder to those who discount the ingenuity of women of color.
The field of artificial intelligence and computing is predominantly Caucasian male. What is your advice to women who aspire to work in this dynamic, growing field?
Don’t be afraid to go confidently in the direction of your dreams. In a field dominated by people who don’t look like you, step with surety and confidence, because no one other than yourself can give you that. Even though you may not feel like you belong here, like this opportunity is a fluke, remind yourself that it isn’t luck that got you here, but a passion for something bigger than yourself. And whenever it gets tough, remember that there is a bright, vibrant community of us out there, always ready to cheer for your successes like they are our own.
Follow rAIsing on Anchor here.
