Annie Gichuru:

AI is not neutral. It is a tool that is

Annie Gichuru:

there to help, but there are biases that are baked into it

Annie Gichuru:

because it is gathering data, data that has been fed to it.

Kelly Sinclair:

This is the entrepreneur school podcast

Kelly Sinclair:

where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make

Kelly Sinclair:

your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you

Kelly Sinclair:

the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey

Kelly Sinclair:

from solopreneur to CEO, while wearing all of the other hats in

Kelly Sinclair:

your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and

Kelly Sinclair:

marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under

Kelly Sinclair:

three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I

Kelly Sinclair:

learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing

Kelly Sinclair:

things that burn you out on this show, you'll hear inspiring

Kelly Sinclair:

stories from other business owners on their journey and

Kelly Sinclair:

learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while

Kelly Sinclair:

making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to

Kelly Sinclair:

entrepreneur School.

Kelly Sinclair:

Welcome back to entrepreneur school. I'm very excited to

Kelly Sinclair:

share with you my guest today, Annie gishiru. She is a leading

Kelly Sinclair:

racial equity coach and consultant for online

Kelly Sinclair:

entrepreneurs, she is deeply passionate about representation

Kelly Sinclair:

through a racial justice lens, and combines her experience as

Kelly Sinclair:

an internationally certified life coach, her love of

Kelly Sinclair:

storytelling and her extensive career as a human resource

Kelly Sinclair:

specialist to deliver represented a program That is

Kelly Sinclair:

transformational and online, and which has been described as a

Kelly Sinclair:

must for business owners who are ready to build a racially

Kelly Sinclair:

diverse, inclusive and equitable business. Annie's grace, gentle

Kelly Sinclair:

spirit and passion for racially equitable world is setting her

Kelly Sinclair:

apart in the coaching and personal development industry

Kelly Sinclair:

and as a compassionate educator with an incredible space holding

Kelly Sinclair:

ability. And she's joining me today because Annie is one of my

Kelly Sinclair:

wonderful contributors in the ease and alignment with AI

Kelly Sinclair:

bundle that we have going on, and she's going to talk about a

Kelly Sinclair:

very important and often overlooked topic, AI bias in the

Kelly Sinclair:

online business space. So we are featuring her guide, her AI bias

Kelly Sinclair:

guide, as part of the bundle. You can get it as part of

Kelly Sinclair:

listening to this episode. And when I first saw this, I was

Kelly Sinclair:

like, we need to have a deeper conversation. This is so much

Kelly Sinclair:

more than a PDF, so thank you for joining me, Annie, all the

Kelly Sinclair:

way from Australia to have this conversation today.

Annie Gichuru:

Thank you so much, Kelly. I'm so excited to

Annie Gichuru:

be here and with the collaboration, it's just

Annie Gichuru:

wonderful. I can't wait for us to dive in.

Kelly Sinclair:

Yes, I mean, I think there's a very broad

Kelly Sinclair:

conversation, obviously, one that must be ongoing to be had

Kelly Sinclair:

about what racial equity looks like, what diversity inclusion

Kelly Sinclair:

actually is. And I want to just give a nod right away to your

Kelly Sinclair:

podcast represented for anybody who is ready to step into

Kelly Sinclair:

learning and listening to that conversation more, we'll try and

Kelly Sinclair:

focus today a little bit more on the AI side, because I think

Kelly Sinclair:

this is just an interesting aspect of this important

Kelly Sinclair:

movement that's happening. But why don't we start with the

Kelly Sinclair:

basics, like setting the stage, and begin with what brought you

Kelly Sinclair:

into this work? Was there a specific moment that ignited

Kelly Sinclair:

your passion, something that happened? What's the story?

Annie Gichuru:

I kind of fell into this work. It's not work

Annie Gichuru:

that I ever for so myself doing I'm originally from Kenya, but

Annie Gichuru:

I've called Australia home for over 25 years. I came here

Annie Gichuru:

initially as an international student Kelly, and the idea was

Annie Gichuru:

just to do my undergrad graduate and head on back home. But I

Annie Gichuru:

fell in love with this country. I fell in love with Australia.

Annie Gichuru:

Loved it so much and ended up staying, getting role after role

Annie Gichuru:

after role and staying. But it wasn't until I became a mother,

Annie Gichuru:

over a decade ago, that I started feeling I wanted more

Annie Gichuru:

out of life. It was always about climbing a corporate ladder. My

Annie Gichuru:

professional background is in human resources, and I just felt

Annie Gichuru:

like I wanted more out of life. I think having a child will do

Annie Gichuru:

that to you, when you feel like you want to prioritize other

Annie Gichuru:

things, other than just working and making a living, and you

Annie Gichuru:

know your daily grind or your eight to five, I felt like I

Annie Gichuru:

wanted more, and it was during that time that I got into

Annie Gichuru:

coaching. I did my certification as a coach, and I started

Annie Gichuru:

looking at ways in which I could support others, particularly

Annie Gichuru:

migrants, who were struggling with feeling unworthy, feeling

Annie Gichuru:

less than and especially. You know, looking at the dynamics

Annie Gichuru:

and being, you know, mostly minorities in terms of race. And

Annie Gichuru:

so stepped into that role supporting migrant women of

Annie Gichuru:

color to unshackle self limiting beliefs. But the big, big issue,

Annie Gichuru:

and the big, big thing and the gap, was matters to do with

Annie Gichuru:

race, something that my peers in the coaching industry were not

Annie Gichuru:

understanding or seeing, but those were conversations I was

Annie Gichuru:

having a lot with my clients and just so this gap, so this big,

Annie Gichuru:

big gap. And it wasn't until, you know, 2020 with the murder

Annie Gichuru:

of George Floyd, that people started paying attention. People

Annie Gichuru:

started asking, you know, how could we have missed this, or

Annie Gichuru:

how can we do better? And that's when I really stepped into this

Annie Gichuru:

space of, you know, racial equity and beginning to support

Annie Gichuru:

coaches, course creators, online business owners, really on how

Annie Gichuru:

to build businesses that are more equitable, how to hold

Annie Gichuru:

safer space for us as a people of color, and so I kind of fell

Annie Gichuru:

into it. It wasn't something that I intended to get into, but

Annie Gichuru:

it's certainly something that I absolutely love. Feel very

Annie Gichuru:

fulfilled, and it's work that I I enjoy.

Kelly Sinclair:

Yeah, it's incredible to be able to do work

Kelly Sinclair:

that is so aligned with a mission that matters to you as

Kelly Sinclair:

an individual, right, and that you can see the potential for

Kelly Sinclair:

the impact that that makes actually in the in the world

Kelly Sinclair:

beyond you. I love, I love connecting with people who have

Kelly Sinclair:

that sort of passion about whatever it is that they do

Kelly Sinclair:

right? And bring that, to bring that into the light. And I feel

Kelly Sinclair:

like I would love to hear your take first before we like narrow

Kelly Sinclair:

the conversation too much into the AI, just in general, about

Kelly Sinclair:

you know you were talking about like conversations that are

Kelly Sinclair:

being had. It almost sounds like you you identified an invisible

Kelly Sinclair:

gap right, a gap that is only known by one side of the

Kelly Sinclair:

equation. And so what are some of the aspects for people who

Kelly Sinclair:

are unaware, ignorant, or whatever word we're going to use

Kelly Sinclair:

for that to bring awareness to it.

Annie Gichuru:

Yeah, there's a lot of unawareness, because you

Annie Gichuru:

don't know what you don't know. Helly and a lot of coaches,

Annie Gichuru:

course creators, online business owners, who are providing a

Annie Gichuru:

service potentially, are looking at things from one lens, the

Annie Gichuru:

lens that they've always known, the lens that they've they've

Annie Gichuru:

learned from, and often that is through a Western lens, that is

Annie Gichuru:

through a white lens, and you don't know that, especially if

Annie Gichuru:

you identify in that way. You just know what you know, and you

Annie Gichuru:

don't know what you don't know. But it is when you begin to hear

Annie Gichuru:

stories of people saying, well, I don't see myself represented

Annie Gichuru:

when I look at this group program, when I want to perhaps

Annie Gichuru:

be coached by this person, I want to take this course. I

Annie Gichuru:

don't know how that will work out for me, because I don't know

Annie Gichuru:

if I will feel seen, if I will seen, if I will feel or held in

Annie Gichuru:

a certain way, if this person doesn't quite understand my

Annie Gichuru:

background, some of the challenges, the setbacks that we

Annie Gichuru:

experience as people of color, and so I'm not too sure if this

Annie Gichuru:

space will be inclusive enough. I'm not too sure if this space

Annie Gichuru:

will actually from even a safety perspective. I'm not too sure if

Annie Gichuru:

I will feel safe enough to really show up as me. And the

Annie Gichuru:

gap comes up where you know, potentially coaches, space

Annie Gichuru:

holders are like I didn't know that. I All I know is that I'm a

Annie Gichuru:

kind person. I am inclusive of people who come from all

Annie Gichuru:

backgrounds. In fact, I have clients who are people of color.

Annie Gichuru:

In fact, I potentially even have family members, or I'm even

Annie Gichuru:

married to a person of color. But that doesn't really exempt

Annie Gichuru:

you from having these gaps, or, you know, being able to hold

Annie Gichuru:

space that allows somebody to feel a certain way, because I

Annie Gichuru:

can tell you that as somebody who has been on the other side,

Annie Gichuru:

as a client, somebody who has been a course taker, somebody

Annie Gichuru:

who has been a coachee, I can tell when space has been held

Annie Gichuru:

for me, or I have taken curriculum, you know, undergone

Annie Gichuru:

through curriculum that feels inclusive, that it's not just

Annie Gichuru:

one sided I can sense that, and there is a huge difference with

Annie Gichuru:

how I then show up and what I take out from that experience,

Annie Gichuru:

whereas if I come into, you know, a relationship or a

Annie Gichuru:

container where that doesn't exist, there are already

Annie Gichuru:

barriers immediately. For me and the host, the person who's doing

Annie Gichuru:

all this may not even realize, and the people who are most at

Annie Gichuru:

danger or harm are the ones who think, I'm good, I'm already

Annie Gichuru:

inclusive, this is also good, but they're the ones who need to

Annie Gichuru:

do this work even more, because they're the ones who believe in

Annie Gichuru:

this work. It's not I've often had people say, oh, you know,

Annie Gichuru:

Annie, you're doing great work. This work is, you know, for

Annie Gichuru:

those who need to do this work, the people who are not

Annie Gichuru:

inclusive, the people who are part of oppressive structures.

Annie Gichuru:

But it'll take us a long time to get to those people. It's those

Annie Gichuru:

who have already seen themselves as being inclusive. It's those

Annie Gichuru:

who want to be inclusive, it's those who want to have equitable

Annie Gichuru:

businesses that need to be leading the way, to be doing

Annie Gichuru:

this work, regardless of whether they think they are or not, so

Annie Gichuru:

that they can begin to help us pull those who are not into it.

Kelly Sinclair:

Yes, so everything that you're saying

Kelly Sinclair:

there is making me think there's a difference. And again, this

Kelly Sinclair:

whole conversation will be incredibly nuanced, right? But

Kelly Sinclair:

in when someone says, I'm good, they think that they're

Kelly Sinclair:

inclusive, but perhaps what they just aren't as intentionally

Kelly Sinclair:

uninclusive. So therefore you think kind of by the default of

Kelly Sinclair:

the double negative, you're, you're, you know, holding the

Kelly Sinclair:

space, whereas, I believe, from, you know, my own exploration of

Kelly Sinclair:

this and conversations, it's more about intentional efforts,

Kelly Sinclair:

intentional barriers being broken down, and setting

Kelly Sinclair:

intention behind what you're putting out there. And if we can

Kelly Sinclair:

even, like, speak to examples a little bit, because where does

Kelly Sinclair:

this come across? It comes across a lot in communication,

Kelly Sinclair:

right? And so that's really where it's going to tie in a

Kelly Sinclair:

lot, as well into AI use, particularly for me, any anytime

Kelly Sinclair:

I'm using AI is to help develop communication materials,

Kelly Sinclair:

marketing, website, copy, emails, all of the things,

Kelly Sinclair:

right? So the voice that's coming through, that's the

Kelly Sinclair:

application of it. So I'm sort of saying, so, yeah, so where,

Kelly Sinclair:

how can we then start embracing and being more intentional about

Kelly Sinclair:

what we are, even how to evaluate what we're putting out

Kelly Sinclair:

there to ensure that we move into more of a intentional

Kelly Sinclair:

inclusion rather than unintentional exclusion.

Annie Gichuru:

Yeah, great question. And just to take a

Annie Gichuru:

step back, you know, a lot of people will view themselves,

Annie Gichuru:

especially those who are values led business owners, they will

Annie Gichuru:

view themselves as of course, I'm one of the good ones, Annie,

Annie Gichuru:

because I am not a racist. I don't use racial slurs. I am as

Annie Gichuru:

inclusive as I can be. I volunteer. I do all these things

Annie Gichuru:

I am trying to do the right thing, I understand I have

Annie Gichuru:

privilege. What privilege even and I understand the role that I

Annie Gichuru:

need to play. So I think when people view it that way, that's

Annie Gichuru:

the barrier, because they're seeing themselves in light of

Annie Gichuru:

this is what the worst kind of scenario looks like. But the

Annie Gichuru:

thing is, we are part of a system. You know, race itself is

Annie Gichuru:

a, you know, is a social construct, and we are part of a

Annie Gichuru:

system, and that is a system that different people benefit

Annie Gichuru:

from. And a lot of times, when you're going through your

Annie Gichuru:

everyday life, you do not realize how you're benefiting

Annie Gichuru:

from this system and how it is having a potentially a negative

Annie Gichuru:

impact on another group of people. And so when you go about

Annie Gichuru:

life looking at it that way, and saying, I'm one of the good

Annie Gichuru:

ones, one of the good ones, you in many ways, miss out on the

Annie Gichuru:

ways in which you could be perhaps helping bring people

Annie Gichuru:

along the journey. You're doing your bit because you feel like

Annie Gichuru:

I'm already doing mine, or I'm not one of those people. And

Annie Gichuru:

coming back to being intentional with inclusion, it begins with

Annie Gichuru:

the work that we are doing personally. Because if I was to

Annie Gichuru:

go ahead and engage with AI and I haven't done the work of

Annie Gichuru:

keeping up and understanding the ways in which I can do better as

Annie Gichuru:

a human first and foremost, before even being looking at

Annie Gichuru:

myself as a business owner. If I'm not doing that internal

Annie Gichuru:

work, then when I sit down and I'm getting all this brilliant

Annie Gichuru:

assistance from Ai, I will not know when things are biased. I

Annie Gichuru:

will not know when the information I am receiving is

Annie Gichuru:

coming across in a way that might make my messaging be

Annie Gichuru:

exclusive or, you know, exclude people. People that I didn't

Annie Gichuru:

want to in the first place. So it requires a level of education

Annie Gichuru:

and understanding from your perspective first and foremost,

Annie Gichuru:

and then understanding that AI is not neutral. It is a tool

Annie Gichuru:

that is there to help, but there are biases that are baked into

Annie Gichuru:

it because it is gathering data, data that has been fed to it.

Annie Gichuru:

There is also the algorithm that favors certain patterns. And

Annie Gichuru:

then there is human bias as well that comes into play. Humans are

Annie Gichuru:

feeding the information, and they're feeding it based on what

Annie Gichuru:

they know or based on how they want it to behave. So the

Annie Gichuru:

potential for it to do certain things in a biased way are very,

Annie Gichuru:

very high. And sometimes, if you're not the group that is

Annie Gichuru:

being targeted, often you will come in and you will see certain

Annie Gichuru:

things and you'll be like, Oh, if we speak to gender, for

Annie Gichuru:

example, you know, if you're being given examples by AI,

Annie Gichuru:

like, Okay, give me, you know, CEOs, or how would I word this

Annie Gichuru:

for people in leadership, and it's a very, you know, geared

Annie Gichuru:

towards men, then you're like, hang on. Hang on, you know,

Annie Gichuru:

let's take a step back. I'm this is the person I am, and this is

Annie Gichuru:

who I'm speaking to. Could you make this a little bit more

Annie Gichuru:

gender equitable? And then it'll go about say, Oh, I'm so sorry.

Annie Gichuru:

Kelly, yeah, yeah. But you see, if you don't know that in the

Annie Gichuru:

first place, you will not know and you kind of run with what

Annie Gichuru:

you've been given, and it'll take you in a different

Annie Gichuru:

direction.

Kelly Sinclair:

What a great example, because in that case,

Kelly Sinclair:

you can, I like to subscribe to a human first, AI adoption. So

Kelly Sinclair:

to me, this means we have access to some amazing technology and

Kelly Sinclair:

tools and potential, but we still, at the end of the day,

Kelly Sinclair:

need to have a human lens through which we decide how

Kelly Sinclair:

we're going to receive and what we're going to use this

Kelly Sinclair:

information and the product of AI for. So that's really

Kelly Sinclair:

important. And so that's one piece where you're saying that.

Kelly Sinclair:

And so then that plays into the if you do not have the knowledge

Kelly Sinclair:

yourself as a human from having done intentional work in these

Kelly Sinclair:

areas, then how are you going to flag an issue like this? Right?

Kelly Sinclair:

So it's really just pointing out that there's a gap that you may

Kelly Sinclair:

not be be aware of, but I love the example of gender, where

Kelly Sinclair:

it's quite easy to tell if something's very male focused or

Kelly Sinclair:

female focused, right? But we know that, and then we can make

Kelly Sinclair:

the tweak and adjust it. But we need to be able to start

Kelly Sinclair:

bringing some skills and awareness into it for the

Kelly Sinclair:

purpose of the of racial equity as well, absolutely.

Annie Gichuru:

And here's the thing with the rise of AI, it is

Annie Gichuru:

making people very take a step back, like, I don't need to do

Annie Gichuru:

the work. You know, go ahead and produce this list for me, or do

Annie Gichuru:

this and the other and yes, there is that ease in that

Annie Gichuru:

there's a lot of things that they can do super quickly and

Annie Gichuru:

produce those results for you. But the danger Kelly lies in the

Annie Gichuru:

fact that when we get to accustomed to things just

Annie Gichuru:

happening so quickly and not questioning or taking the time

Annie Gichuru:

to continue to educate yourself, you will find you've gone in a

Annie Gichuru:

whole different direction that you didn't intend to take so As

Annie Gichuru:

much as we are embracing AI and it is supporting us, we also

Annie Gichuru:

have to keep up with the education. We have to keep up

Annie Gichuru:

with the ethical use of it, the integrity of it. We have to keep

Annie Gichuru:

questioning and pushing back certain things, especially for

Annie Gichuru:

us, who are space holders and we're working with humans. We're

Annie Gichuru:

not in a space where we can just sit back and let it do

Annie Gichuru:

everything we've got to question, and this is when we we

Annie Gichuru:

have to really invest in learning and understanding this,

Annie Gichuru:

this, this tools and these mechanisms and how they've been

Annie Gichuru:

built, and are they good for my business? You know what? What is

Annie Gichuru:

a better option, or what's out there that is really putting the

Annie Gichuru:

human first, you know, getting better with understanding the

Annie Gichuru:

tools and how they've been used and how we can use them better

Annie Gichuru:

as well. Because how are we prompting them? What are we

Annie Gichuru:

saying to them so that they can give us information that perhaps

Annie Gichuru:

is more equitable? But it comes back to ethics at the end of the

Annie Gichuru:

day, and I think the danger lies in when we get too relaxed, and

Annie Gichuru:

even, for lack of a better word, lazy and we wanted to do all the

Annie Gichuru:

work and we're not doing our due diligence on the other end,

Kelly Sinclair:

Oh, absolutely, 100% agree with you. And I also

Kelly Sinclair:

want to circle back to something else that you mentioned, because

Kelly Sinclair:

some people might. Understand this as well. It's like, where,

Kelly Sinclair:

where does AI come from? Where does AI get all of its insights?

Kelly Sinclair:

Information, data, right, data that is programmed by humans.

Kelly Sinclair:

And who are those humans that are programming what we are now

Kelly Sinclair:

taking as truth? So absolutely needing to maintain a level of

Kelly Sinclair:

skepticism for the purpose of, you know, interpreting and and

Kelly Sinclair:

ensuring that you go through the effort like we're like, allow AI

Kelly Sinclair:

to to help you take some steps, to move faster, to collect to

Kelly Sinclair:

give you something to reflect on, but do not hand over all of

Kelly Sinclair:

the control to this, because at the end of the day, your your

Kelly Sinclair:

reputation is connected to what you put out there. And as a

Kelly Sinclair:

business owner, this is so important. And as speaking as

Kelly Sinclair:

somebody who is, you know, a brand strategist, it needs to be

Kelly Sinclair:

in alignment, and it needs and if you say that your values are

Kelly Sinclair:

to be inclusive. How do we check that? How do we ensure that that

Kelly Sinclair:

actually is true when we are putting our communication

Kelly Sinclair:

materials out there

Annie Gichuru:

absolutely and the thing is, you've got to be

Annie Gichuru:

doing the work. So the people who are perhaps, you know, a

Annie Gichuru:

couple of steps forward are the ones who are doing the work. I'm

Annie Gichuru:

still doing my inclusion work. I'm still learning, I'm still

Annie Gichuru:

studying, I'm still being a student of this work. It is not

Annie Gichuru:

enough for me to say I already know, or I am already good, or

Annie Gichuru:

I'm already inclusive. No, it is continually doing the work. And

Annie Gichuru:

how do you do the work engaging people who know more than you

Annie Gichuru:

do, engaging people who come from backgrounds that are

Annie Gichuru:

different from yourself, depending on what kind of

Annie Gichuru:

inclusion you're after. You know, today we're looking at

Annie Gichuru:

race. So am I reading books from people who don't look or sound

Annie Gichuru:

like me? Am I listening to podcasts from people who might

Annie Gichuru:

be sharing information I may not know that will allow me to look

Annie Gichuru:

at things from a different lens, because lens I'm looking through

Annie Gichuru:

is the lens I've been brought up with, the lens that has been

Annie Gichuru:

accessible to me. What about the lens that has not been

Annie Gichuru:

accessible to me? What about the lens that I don't yet know or

Annie Gichuru:

haven't walked through that you know path? How can I learn? And

Annie Gichuru:

when we hear those things, and we begin to hear them over and

Annie Gichuru:

over, we begin to form belief systems, and our value systems

Annie Gichuru:

are enhanced. And in so doing, when we do work with these AI

Annie Gichuru:

tools, which are there to assist us, they're not there to take

Annie Gichuru:

over, they're there to assist us, then we're able to look at

Annie Gichuru:

things in a more critical way and go like, this makes sense?

Annie Gichuru:

No, this doesn't make sense. I'm sure you've worked with an AI

Annie Gichuru:

tool, and you go like, no, no, no, this is so frustrating. I'm

Annie Gichuru:

telling you not to do this, but you keep doing it. It's because

Annie Gichuru:

you have knowledge of what you want, but when you don't know,

Annie Gichuru:

and you keep getting that information, you'll take that as

Annie Gichuru:

gospel and you'll run with it. And chances are you're not, you

Annie Gichuru:

will potentially harm your business, your branding, your

Annie Gichuru:

reputation, which is so costly.

Kelly Sinclair:

Oh, such a powerful acknowledgement there.

Kelly Sinclair:

Yeah, thank you for that. I'd love to hear, just for the

Kelly Sinclair:

people who, again, because we're talking at the super high level,

Kelly Sinclair:

and I've got some like, triggers based on what you've said in

Kelly Sinclair:

terms of, you know you need to have knowledge to reflect back

Kelly Sinclair:

against what you're given from Ai, as far as an output. But

Kelly Sinclair:

when you start having this conversation about AI bias, and

Kelly Sinclair:

the reason, perhaps behind your development of the AI bias

Kelly Sinclair:

guide, what were some examples? How did you notice this coming

Kelly Sinclair:

up in your own use of AI? What was what was happening?

Annie Gichuru:

You know, this started years and years ago, and

Annie Gichuru:

I did not have an understanding of it. So, for example, many,

Annie Gichuru:

many years ago, using digital phones, and you know, being able

Annie Gichuru:

to put filters like, oh, you can enhance your face, or you can do

Annie Gichuru:

this, or you can there was a time there was even this quirky

Annie Gichuru:

things you could do. You could put, like, dog ears, and you

Annie Gichuru:

could put fancy eyes and sunglasses and all that sort of

Annie Gichuru:

thing.

Kelly Sinclair:

And it was try and make zoom meetings fun. And

Kelly Sinclair:

then,

Annie Gichuru:

yeah, and so I remember trying some filters,

Annie Gichuru:

and the filters would not recognize my face. It would come

Annie Gichuru:

up with a big black circle, a big black circle, and I'm like,

Annie Gichuru:

what's happening? And at that, because it was so many years

Annie Gichuru:

ago, maybe 10 or even more years ago, I just go like, Hmm, that's

Annie Gichuru:

strange, because I didn't know what I didn't know. Now fast

Annie Gichuru:

forward, many, many years later, I understand that that was an

Annie Gichuru:

issue to do with the algorithm. That it's not able to recognize

Annie Gichuru:

my face because I'm a black woman, and how that filter has

Annie Gichuru:

been programmed, has been programmed by a white person.

Annie Gichuru:

And so it couldn't recognize my face, and so the whatever I

Annie Gichuru:

wanted it to do, it couldn't do it. And so that is a bias that I

Annie Gichuru:

came across, and in other ways, more recently, is having

Annie Gichuru:

somebody inside of my group program, and we were using

Annie Gichuru:

Facebook groups, and every time she would post, her posts would

Annie Gichuru:

always get flagged as spam. Like, are you sure? Is this a

Annie Gichuru:

member of I'm like, Yes, it is. And she had a lengthy name,

Annie Gichuru:

Southeast Asian name. It wasn't your typical western names that

Annie Gichuru:

are or Eurocentric sounding. And so it just continually kept

Annie Gichuru:

getting flagged. And, you know, with time, obviously she she

Annie Gichuru:

stopped engaging as much, and she was very appreciative of the

Annie Gichuru:

fact that I had realized that and flagged it and said, Hey,

Annie Gichuru:

this isn't spam. This is a real person. She's meant to be here.

Annie Gichuru:

And so we encountered issues like that, and I couldn't get

Annie Gichuru:

them resolved. And that's when we moved away from using

Annie Gichuru:

Facebook groups to using a different container where you

Annie Gichuru:

know such things wouldn't happen, and so if you're not

Annie Gichuru:

aware of it, you may not think too much about it. But again,

Annie Gichuru:

there is that bias when it comes to pronunciation of names, like,

Annie Gichuru:

why is it flagging that particular name as an issue,

Annie Gichuru:

even though the host is saying, accept this is somebody who's

Annie Gichuru:

part of this group. What does that then do her experience was,

Annie Gichuru:

you know, deeply impacted, and I could absolutely sympathize with

Annie Gichuru:

somebody who has experienced these things in different ways.

Annie Gichuru:

And so those are the biases that exist. And if you're not aware

Annie Gichuru:

of them, you may not have language, or you will not even

Annie Gichuru:

know it is happening. And that is why educating yourself and

Annie Gichuru:

knowing and you're going, this is what happened to me, or this

Annie Gichuru:

is what's happening, or I need to be on the lookout if somebody

Annie Gichuru:

says this or experiences this, I am beginning to make myself

Annie Gichuru:

aware and educated, and so I'm a little bit ahead of the curve.

Kelly Sinclair:

Those are some very hurtful experiences. That's

Kelly Sinclair:

yeah, wow. Do you have any advice as far as a first step

Kelly Sinclair:

for sort of auditing your own systems when people are thinking

Kelly Sinclair:

about how to better integrate these concepts into AI use. I

Kelly Sinclair:

feel like, you know what AI does is it, where's the lens you give

Kelly Sinclair:

it, right? I've been doing a lot of work lately in helping to

Kelly Sinclair:

develop your brand so that you can have a brand calibration

Kelly Sinclair:

tool, which helps it to then sound more like you as an

Kelly Sinclair:

individual. So we go through all these steps. We pull that all

Kelly Sinclair:

together, extract it, put it into essentially one core

Kelly Sinclair:

document that becomes that helps that now I'm not just writing an

Kelly Sinclair:

email. I'm writing an email to the people who I said are my

Kelly Sinclair:

audience from my voice with my messaging, so it's closer to my

Kelly Sinclair:

output, right? So I'm curious if there's is a potential to add

Kelly Sinclair:

another layer, another lens, to it like that.

Annie Gichuru:

Yeah, there is. And this is where human

Annie Gichuru:

connection is so, so important. Kelly, as much as we're relying

Annie Gichuru:

on AI tools to make things easier for us and to support us

Annie Gichuru:

in our businesses, this is where human connection is really,

Annie Gichuru:

really important. And you know, having the ability to do that

Annie Gichuru:

audit with another human, you know, working with inclusion

Annie Gichuru:

consultants and things like that is very, very helpful. I'll give

Annie Gichuru:

you an example. For example, a movie that was done. I can't

Annie Gichuru:

remember what it was called, but I believe it won an Oscar. I

Annie Gichuru:

think it was best actress or something, but it received a lot

Annie Gichuru:

of criticism afterwards, when they said, Oh, you know, the

Annie Gichuru:

person who even played this role is doesn't come from that

Annie Gichuru:

background. They're not authentic to that ethnicity. And

Annie Gichuru:

I feel like we would have been better represented, or perhaps

Annie Gichuru:

how they identified was not in the real representation of, you

Annie Gichuru:

know, that particular group of people. And so this is where.

Annie Gichuru:

And I think the director and the team felt like, Yeah, we should

Annie Gichuru:

have done a little bit more work to include people who do come

Annie Gichuru:

from this background, who do identify in this way, so that as

Annie Gichuru:

we're creating this movie, as we're telling this story, we're

Annie Gichuru:

really telling it in an authentic way. We're telling it

Annie Gichuru:

as real and as genuine as. We can. We're not just making up

Annie Gichuru:

stories as we go along. And this is where, if you're running your

Annie Gichuru:

business and you're trying to check, is this true, is this

Annie Gichuru:

authentic? You know, having those checks and not relying on

Annie Gichuru:

AI 100% and going like, who can I get to come in and have a look

Annie Gichuru:

at my work and audit this for inclusion. And the more you do

Annie Gichuru:

it, the better you get at it, and you're able to pick up on

Annie Gichuru:

these things, and you're able to prompt it in a certain way. But

Annie Gichuru:

we're still we have such a long, long way to go there, but it's

Annie Gichuru:

just training ourselves to think, Okay, before I put this

Annie Gichuru:

material out there, who do I know who can support me in this

Annie Gichuru:

way to come in and just have a quick sweep and a quick look at

Annie Gichuru:

what I've put out there. Is it inclusive enough? And this is

Annie Gichuru:

some of the things that I do with clients, even when it comes

Annie Gichuru:

to program names, like, how have you named that program? Is it

Annie Gichuru:

culturally appropriating? You know, people who come from a

Annie Gichuru:

certain culture, the ways in which you're using certain

Annie Gichuru:

sentences, does it make certain people from a particular

Annie Gichuru:

background feel excluded? Is the language culturally sensitive or

Annie Gichuru:

it is not? And I'm not saying we're doing this to get it 100%

Annie Gichuru:

right, but we're doing the due diligence of reducing the harm,

Annie Gichuru:

because sometimes we can't be 100% harm free, but we're doing

Annie Gichuru:

everything we can to reduce that. The same thing with

Annie Gichuru:

safety. We cannot claim that our space is 100% safe, but what can

Annie Gichuru:

we do, even just with our homes, with our kids? What can we do to

Annie Gichuru:

make the environment safer? That's the key thing. What can

Annie Gichuru:

we do to make it safer? What can we do to reduce the harm? And I

Annie Gichuru:

think this is when we get people like that to support us in our

Annie Gichuru:

business, then we're walking towards having equitable and

Annie Gichuru:

more inclusive businesses. We're being deep and intentional about

Annie Gichuru:

it. We're not guessing our way around.

Kelly Sinclair:

Oh, I think that's so beautiful, because a

Kelly Sinclair:

lot of people feel this pressure and this, well, a desire to do

Kelly Sinclair:

better, but like a nervousness around getting it wrong. But the

Kelly Sinclair:

way that you just describe that is very much about the small

Kelly Sinclair:

steps, the efforts, the movement, the moving towards and

Kelly Sinclair:

like, you know, every conversation, every pause to

Kelly Sinclair:

reflect and consider, all of these are steps moving in the

Kelly Sinclair:

right direction. So that felt very validating, for lack of a

Kelly Sinclair:

better word for me, even you know, because it's even it's

Kelly Sinclair:

challenging to have this conversation right without like,

Kelly Sinclair:

I'm trying to be sensitive as well. I want, I know, I wanted

Kelly Sinclair:

to have you on this podcast to say, you know, you bring such an

Kelly Sinclair:

important perspective, I want to shine your voice to as many

Kelly Sinclair:

people as I can. And I've recruited an audience, and so I

Kelly Sinclair:

would love to introduce you there. You know, these are the

Kelly Sinclair:

steps that I can take right now. And thank you so much for this

Kelly Sinclair:

conversation. And is there anything else that you want to

Kelly Sinclair:

add here before we kind of close up?

Annie Gichuru:

I think as space holders, it is our duty. It is

Annie Gichuru:

upon us to create spaces that people come in and they truly

Annie Gichuru:

feel seen, they truly feel held, and we actually make that

Annie Gichuru:

difference that we want to make. You know, we have the skill, we

Annie Gichuru:

have the talent that's been placed in us, but we also need

Annie Gichuru:

to do the work of ensuring What am I doing to make sure that I

Annie Gichuru:

am educated, I am informed. Things are not taking me by

Annie Gichuru:

surprise, and one of the things I'm going to challenge your

Annie Gichuru:

listeners Kelly is have a look around your contacts. Have a

Annie Gichuru:

look at your social media feed. Who are the people you interact

Annie Gichuru:

with? Who are the people that you are engaging with their

Annie Gichuru:

posts, or who are the people engaging with your posts? If

Annie Gichuru:

these are people who predominantly look and sound

Annie Gichuru:

like you, there's already a question there to ask, why is

Annie Gichuru:

this the case, and what can I do to have people from different

Annie Gichuru:

backgrounds that I am interacting with? Because it's

Annie Gichuru:

only when you do that that you're able to see the gaps. So

Annie Gichuru:

do that as a little bit of homework when you're scrolling

Annie Gichuru:

and see who am I engaging with and who are the people who are

Annie Gichuru:

engaging with me? And if you don't have that diverse

Annie Gichuru:

representation, chances are there are things that you don't

Annie Gichuru:

know, there are gaps that exist, that you cannot see, and it's

Annie Gichuru:

time to probably begin to look at things and engaging with

Annie Gichuru:

people from different backgrounds.

Kelly Sinclair:

Oh, that's such an excellent and. Tangible

Kelly Sinclair:

challenge, and also I feel like my own, like personal commitment

Kelly Sinclair:

and takeaway. I was thinking, you know, the answer to the

Kelly Sinclair:

question is, why is that? It's because it's comfortable to stay

Kelly Sinclair:

with what we know and who we you know, hear from, and even when

Kelly Sinclair:

you speak to you know, one of the what I'm hearing you say, So

Kelly Sinclair:

correct me? If I'm not reflecting this properly, one of

Kelly Sinclair:

the steps is, is the ability to take on some perspective that's

Kelly Sinclair:

not yours, right? And this is a challenging thing to do as a

Kelly Sinclair:

human in general, because we all are just like this is what I

Kelly Sinclair:

think this, you know? And that doesn't mean that we're

Kelly Sinclair:

projecting our beliefs on other people. We just sit in our own

Kelly Sinclair:

perspective and we look through those glasses. Putting on

Kelly Sinclair:

somebody else's glasses is something that you have to try

Kelly Sinclair:

and do intentionally. So I'm even thinking, you know, I

Kelly Sinclair:

recently got back into reading just for fun, and it would be a

Kelly Sinclair:

good idea to just find an author of color to just come and get

Kelly Sinclair:

into a book, right? It doesn't have to be on the topic of

Kelly Sinclair:

racial equity or anything, but just that a step into hearing

Kelly Sinclair:

perspective and feeling that a little bit more, right?

Annie Gichuru:

I love that so much. It doesn't always have to

Annie Gichuru:

be that you're reading about racism, that you're reading

Annie Gichuru:

about this atrocities that are happening. Yes, they're all

Annie Gichuru:

around us, but you could find a fiction book in the genre that

Annie Gichuru:

you absolutely love, but it's been written by somebody else.

Annie Gichuru:

It's the language that they use, it's the description, and it

Annie Gichuru:

takes you to a different world. It's like what JK Rowling did

Annie Gichuru:

with, you know, her books. She managed to take people into a

Annie Gichuru:

completely different world that they had never been in, and they

Annie Gichuru:

got engrossed, and they started looking at things so

Annie Gichuru:

differently. And so that is what we do. When we look at things

Annie Gichuru:

from a different perspective, we are beginning to open our eyes

Annie Gichuru:

to things that we didn't expect or know, and it makes us better

Annie Gichuru:

humans. At the end of the day, it will make you a better space

Annie Gichuru:

holder. It will make you a better business. It will just

Annie Gichuru:

make you that human who people gravitate towards because

Annie Gichuru:

there's something about you that they're not getting from

Annie Gichuru:

somebody who's just looking through that one lens,

Kelly Sinclair:

yes, and into kind of, like, end that too.

Kelly Sinclair:

It's not a checkbox, right? Like, I love that. You say

Kelly Sinclair:

there's a feeling, it's a nuance. There's no, like, you

Kelly Sinclair:

know, there's no super tangible tips that we're giving you

Kelly Sinclair:

today. Like, step one, do this. Check it off, then you're good.

Kelly Sinclair:

No, that's not how it's going to be. It's thank you for being

Kelly Sinclair:

part of this conversation, listening to this, continuing to

Kelly Sinclair:

engage with Annie and others who are speaking into this very

Kelly Sinclair:

important topic, and finding ways to bring more of this into

Kelly Sinclair:

your own life so that you can be like you said, a better human

Kelly Sinclair:

and I feel like thank you so much for this conversation,

Kelly Sinclair:

because that is because that is the impact that we were able to

Kelly Sinclair:

have today to help people become better humans.

Annie Gichuru:

That's so beautiful. Thank you, Kelly for

Annie Gichuru:

having me. This has been so special. Thank you so much.

Kelly Sinclair:

And Annie has a AI bias Guide, which is

Kelly Sinclair:

available in the ease and alignment with AI bundle, and

Kelly Sinclair:

the link is in the show notes, and also all of the links to

Kelly Sinclair:

check out your podcast, Annie, and find you on your website and

Kelly Sinclair:

your program, and anything else that you want to say as a last

Kelly Sinclair:

word before we go,

Annie Gichuru:

I think I have said everything. But just to

Annie Gichuru:

close off, you know you are here. You were created on

Annie Gichuru:

purpose for a purpose. Never forget that. Keep showing up,

Annie Gichuru:

keep doing your best, and you will reap the benefits of that.