Dar’shun Kendrick has been a member of the Georgia House of Representatives since 2010 when she was elected at 27. Her career includes work in politics, equity, and technology. She sits on the Small Business Development and Job Creation Committee and the Technology and Infrastructure Committee, where she participates in the Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee. Kendrick has also worked with the Telecommunications, Science, and Technology Committee of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and in 2019, she established the first bipartisan Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Caucus in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Kendrick attended Oglethorpe University and received her law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. She is an attorney and in 2017, she opened a legal and investment consulting firm to help African American women and founders learn more about capital raising.
Regarding her interest in AI, Kendrick explained that as a securities attorney, she is involved in capital raising with the latest technology. She is drawn to the field due to the challenge of balancing the automation of people’s lives while ensuring that machine learning does not disrupt democracy and human essence. Moreover, as an attorney, she is intrigued by the contradiction in the AI space where venture capital funds and founders seemingly defy the latest trends of not raising as much investment capital as other technology subsets.
Kendrick is particularly proud of her involvement in a small AI subcommittee that approved legislation on upcoming elections and «deepfakes» made by political campaigns to influence the elections during the last legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly.
She confronts the challenges of the male-dominated technology and AI industries by being present in spaces where women are not expected, offering value, and sharing her expertise. Her advice to women entering the AI field is to produce, be present, and continue learning as the technology evolves rapidly.
As AI evolves, Kendrick highlights pressing issues such as fraud, privacy concerns, and the adaptation of small businesses to the changing technological landscape driven by AI. Users of AI should be discerning about the information they share and be mindful of the possibility of discrimination arising from AI applications.
To build AI responsibly, Kendrick recommends creating and adhering to a written ethical framework focused on privacy, data security, anti-fraud measures, and constant reassessment of discriminatory issues within the system.
Finally, Kendrick emphasizes the need to find a balance between innovation and rights as a country and as a world, urging all stakeholders to act swiftly to achieve this equilibrium.
Vía TechCrunch
