Are You AI-Ready? Cisco Networking Academy Is Closing the Gender Gap in AI

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 28, 2024 / Cisco Systems Inc.

Foto: Accesswire

By Laura Quintana

LinkedIn workforce data shows that women are still significantly underrepresented in the Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM). Despite making up almost half (49.3%) of total employment across non-STEM occupations, women represent just 29.2% of all STEM workers.

As technology moves quickly, that underrepresentation shapes the technology of tomorrow as well as amplifies existing gender bias in technology. As Cisco's corporate purpose is to power an inclusive future for all, Cisco Networking Academy chooses to take action to address gender parity in tech by encouraging young girls and women to consider STEM as a career option.

AI is not new

The idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new. Metropolis, the classic Fritz Lang film featured a humanoid robot in 1927. Even in academia the interest in AI and machine learning dates back more than half a century. Alan Turing wrote a paper on Computing Machinery and Intelligence in 1950.

Despite what seems like a long history, it took the confluence of increased computational capacity, big data, and years of research and training before AI genuinely burst into the mainstream in 2023. One third of respondents to McKinsey's Global Survey last year said their organizations are using generative AI regularly in at least one business function. This is less than a year after many of these tools debuted.

The AI revolution

AI is now seen as a revolution with organizations and people working diligently to understand opportunities and implications.

Along with revolutions come challenges, however. Cisco's position on AI is that while there is enormous positive potential for humanity, we must deploy the technology responsibly. Cisco research reveals there are gaps in preparedness for the AI revolution in 86 percent of global organizations.

In our recent Quarterly Student Outcome Survey,* 63 percent of Cisco Networking Academy students tell us they are using AI today and 17 percent already have advanced skills in this area. We are proud our students are at the leading edge of technology learning. In fact, 88 percent of our students believe Cisco Networking Academy is at the forefront of this rapidly evolving tech world.

Unfortunately, we are already seeing a gender gap in AI.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), women comprise only 22 percent of AI professionals globally, only 18 percent of authors at leading AI conferences are women, and only 2 percent of venture capital flowed to start-ups founded by women in 2019.