Google doing best to make tech equitable, inclusive for women, says top exec

Google is doing its best to avoid creating and reinforcing unfairness especially within the gender context, said Sapna Chadha, Vice President of Marketing, Google India and Southeast Asia. She also said that they have the responsibility to make technology which is equitable and inclusive for women. 
 
While speaking at the Google for India 2022 meet in New Delhi on Monday, Chadha also highlighted some of the initiatives the Indian arm of the tech giant has taken to support women. This includes Google for Start-ups Accelerator, which is meant for Indian women founders, DigiPivot for women returning to work, and a few more. 
 
Chadha said that eight years ago, only one in 10 were women internet users. “Today, this number has grown to four.” She also said that Google has worked hard to build features which help women get ahead in life.
 
Touching on the topic of using technologies, especially artificial intelligence responsibly, she said it is important to ensure that “real life biases don’t manifest in technology.” Chadha said that the key to removing bias lies is understanding the context. She also announced the launch of project BINDI which stands for Bias Interventions for Natural Language Processing and Data in the Indian Context. BINDI will take into account “contextual” aspects like societal context, technological gaps, and local culture and norms to ensure that tech is being used sensibly.
 
Sanjay Gupta, Country Manager & VP, Google India, also announced that the Sundar Pichai-led technology company will be focusing on investing in women-led early-stage startups through its Rs 75,000 crore India Digitisation Fund.
 
"Moving forward, as part of our IDF investments, we will be targeting support for early-stage companies with a particular focus on women-led startups," Gupta said at the same event. The company had launched $10 billion — about Rs 75,000 crore as per the prevailing exchange rate at the end of 2020 — to make access to the internet affordable.  Through Google IDF, the company bought a 7.73 per cent stake in Jio for $4.5 billion and a 1.2 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for $700 million.
 
Google announced a grant of $1 million to set up India's first responsible AI centre at IIT Madras.
 
(With added inputs from agency)