• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt

2

As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens

3

Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026

1

Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt

2

As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens

3

Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026
MPWMost Powerful Women

Artificial Intelligence Needs Empathy and Regulation

By
McKenna Moore
McKenna Moore
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
McKenna Moore
McKenna Moore
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 12, 2018, 7:17 PM ET

The AI revolution is upon us.

Machine learning, one of key artificial intelligence technologies, has already been deployed within more companies than you would expect. As it gains even greater adoption, regulation and empathy should be at the forefront.

Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder and CEO of emotional AI company Affectiva, said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen 2018 in Laguna Niguel, Calif. on Wednesday that EQ is just as important in technology as IQ. Because of the frequency with which people interact with technology and its growing impact on our lives, it’s important that empathy be built into it, she said.

One way to do that, el Kaliouby said, is to have diverse teams work on the technology. In a example of the problem, she said that middle-aged white men usually create and train face recognition AI using images of people who look like themselves, which means the technology often doesn’t work as well, if at all, on women of color.

“It goes back to the teams designing these algorithms, and if your team isn’t diverse they aren’t going to be thinking about how this will work on a woman wearing hijab,” she said. “You solve for the problems you know.”

Navrina Singh, principal product lead of Microsoft AI, said that a perfect example of building technology with empathy in mind came to her during a project with an e-commerce site that trying to make it easier for customers in India to buy it products. Due to the low literacy rate in the country, the company built speech-to-text functionality for users who couldn’t read. Beforehand, the company made a concerted effort to train its AI in dialects and cultures from all around India, because the intent and meaning of speech varies based on background. Deciphering intent is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities in AI right now, Inhi Cho Suh, general manager of customer engagement at IBM Watson, said.

Regulation is another big topic in machine learning at the moment. With bots and other related technology becoming more sophisticated, laws are necessary to check that power, the panelists agreed. Suh said that technology and regulation should be used to prevent misuse, while el Kaliouby stressed the need for mandatory ethics training for college computer science and engineering majors.

Singh shared the acronym F.A.T.E., which stands for fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics, to sum up the key ideas to keep in mind when creating and regulating this technology. Although there is a lot of bad news about technology, like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a British political firm accessed personal data on up to 87 million Facebook users, we must not let fear guide the debate, said Vidhya Ramalingham, founder of counter-terrorism technology company Moonshot CVE.

“Policy should not be written out of fear, it should be written in an educated and informed manner,” she said.

About the Author
By McKenna Moore
Twitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

As part of her Citi turnaround, Jane Fraser cut management layers from 13 to 8. But the ‘great flattening’ doesn’t always work as intended
C-SuiteManagement
As part of her Citi turnaround, Jane Fraser cut management layers from 13 to 8. But the ‘great flattening’ doesn’t always work as intended
By Claire ZillmanMay 30, 2026
11 hours ago
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress: ‘AI is no longer a nice-to-have’
MPWMost Powerful Women
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress: ‘AI is no longer a nice-to-have’
By Sheryl EstradaMay 30, 2026
12 hours ago
TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett is trying to fix America’s broken retirement system
Personal Financechief executive officer (CEO)
TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett is trying to fix America’s broken retirement system
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 30, 2026
13 hours ago
Arianna Huffington warns Gen Z that no one with an ‘interesting job’ can simply shut their laptop at 5 p.m.—and if you can, you should change jobs
SuccessThe Promotion Playbook
Arianna Huffington warns Gen Z that no one with an ‘interesting job’ can simply shut their laptop at 5 p.m.—and if you can, you should change jobs
By Orianna Rosa RoyleMay 30, 2026
14 hours ago
Why Meta hired Dina Powell McCormick
NewslettersMPW Daily
Why Meta hired Dina Powell McCormick
By Ellie AustinMay 29, 2026
1 day ago
Meet the Black women on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list shaping business leadership
MPWMost Powerful Women
Meet the Black women on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list shaping business leadership
By Cheyann HarrisMay 29, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt
Economy
Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt
By Shawn TullyMay 30, 2026
17 hours ago
As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens
Magazine
As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens
By Emma HinchliffeMay 27, 2026
4 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 29, 2026
1 day ago
As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales
Success
As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales
By Emma BurleighMay 28, 2026
2 days ago
A billionaire and an A-list actor found refuge in a 37-home Florida neighborhood with armed guards—proof that privacy is now the ultimate luxury
Real Estate
A billionaire and an A-list actor found refuge in a 37-home Florida neighborhood with armed guards—proof that privacy is now the ultimate luxury
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 25, 2026
6 days ago
Gen Z is rejecting $200 dates and choosing 'solo-maxxing'—and dating apps are taking a hit
Economy
Gen Z is rejecting $200 dates and choosing 'solo-maxxing'—and dating apps are taking a hit
By Sydney LakeMay 30, 2026
13 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.