US-SEGA Partners with VietAI to Launch Webinar Series on Women in Artificial Intelligence
Last month, USAID’s Workforce for an Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem (WISE) and VietAI supported two events encouraging Vietnamese women to consider careers in artificial intelligence (AI). The events, hosted September 17th and October 1st, showcased career journeys of four Vietnamese women working in different aspects of AI whose real-life examples inspired attendees in this cutting-edge field.
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) beckons, the AI field and the demand for AI-skilled workers are rapidly growing in Vietnam. However, women remain underrepresented in Vietnam’s tech industry. They may have concerns about STEM skills pre-requirements, the work environment in the tech industry, or the shape of possible career paths, and they may be unaware of the pay scales available to women in the field.
Supporting women to learn more about opportunities and build the requisite skill sets to access them goes beyond helping them to land well-paying jobs—workforce representation is critical to ensuring that AI applications are built, tested, and applied by practitioners with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities to ensure that technology solutions are developed and applied with minimal biases.
The two events attracted over 300 attendees and provided participants with the opportunity to learn about trainings needed to advance in AI and the working environment in the tech world for women specifically.
Following the events, WISE and VIetAI are sponsoring scholarships for female learners to undertake AI training with VietAI. By combining online information sessions with scholarships to attract women into AI studies, WISE and its partner VietAI hope to improve gender representation and bridge the digital gap in this growing 4IR field.
About US-SEGA
The US Support for Economic Growth in Asia (US-SEGA) is a six-year project designed to improve the policy environment for sustainable economic growth and prosperity, improved regional economic cooperation, sound management of institutions and good governance throughout APEC and the Indo-Pacific, while also expanding markets for U.S. goods and services. In addition to strengthening the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, US-SEGA offers missions a flexible mechanism to respond quickly to new opportunities through targeted technical assistance and training. It particularly supports workstreams focused on current and emerging economic growth issues including digital economy, workforce development, supply chain connectivity, and women’s economic empowerment. The program also supports missions in their ongoing response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.