In the MiddleEast, gender equality in the workforce remains a pressing issue. Female participation stands at only 25%, far below the global average of 50%. The gender-gap is stark in leadership, with men holding 96% of corporate board positions. The advent of Artificial Intelligence compounds this problem, perpetuating biases. UNESCO highlights that AI is rolling back decades of female progress.

Fixing the bAIs tackles the pressing issue of gender bias in AI, aligning with the Lion for Change's mission. By injecting diversity directly into AI and reshaping societal perceptions, the campaign promotes inclusivity and gender equality, contributing to a more equitable future. Moreover, its impact extends beyond advertising, as evidenced by its role in influencing the passing of the EU's AI Act, which marks a significant step towards regulating bias in technology. The work serves as a powerful example of how creative advertising can drive meaningful change and inspire action.

In the Middle East, the fight for women's equality in the workforce is at a critical point. Despite progress over the last half-century, female participation in the workforce is at only 25%, far below the global average of 50%. The gender gap is even more evident in leadership roles with men holding 96% of positions on corporate boards, as shown by the MSCI ACWI Index. The rise of Artificial Intelligence exacerbates this issue, reinforcing real life biases. UNESCO warns that AI is regressing decades of female progress, one prompt at a time.

Aurora50, a DEI impact agency founded in 2020, is addressing this challenge. As a catalyst for change in workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, Aurora50 guides corporations towards more inclusive futures.

Since the companies worldwide are adopting Artificial Intelligence for their daily processes including hiring, Aurora50 did not just want to focus on real-world diversity but also aim to influence the virtual realm.

Aurora50’s mission led to a significant initiative to fix AI biases using AI itself. Our campaign offered a solution to counteract female representation biases in AI, starting on digital platforms and expanding to reach global policymakers.

The campaign's influence was seismic gaining international recognition and influencing policies. It played a pivotal role in influencing 52 nations to adopt the EU’s first AI Act.

As a small Middle Eastern startup, Aurora50 stands as a testament to the power of not only transforming workplaces but also driving significant global societal changes and raising public awareness.

Aurora50, a leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Impact Agency in the GCC, aimed to combat gender bias in AI for International Women’s Day.

Their brand values prioritise promoting inclusive workplaces and diverse leadership, steering corporations to an inclusive future and support corporate clients in their DEI goals.

The campaign, "Fixing the bAIs," injects diversity directly into the veins of AI. By addressing biases in AI datasets, it reshapes societal perceptions and promotes gender equality, contributing to a more inclusive future.

Beyond being a campaign, it's a catalyst for change, evidenced by its role in passing the EU's AI Act, the first regulation on Artificial Intelligence, which deems bias in datasets unacceptable. This initiative exemplifies Aurora50's commitment to challenging and addressing gender biases, leading towards fairer and inclusive workplaces.

In the MiddleEast, the fight for women's equality in the workforce is at a critical point. Despite progress over the last half-century, female participation in the workforce is at only 25%, far below the global average of 50%. The gender gap is even more evident in leadership roles with men holding 96% of positions on corporate boards, as shown by the MSCI ACWI Index. The rise of Artificial Intelligence exacerbates this issue, reinforcing real life biases. UNESCO warns that AI is regressing decades of female progress, one prompt at a time.

Aurora50, a DEI impact agency is addressing this challenge. As a catalyst for change in workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, Aurora50 guides corporations towards more inclusive futures. Since the corporations worldwide are adopting Artificial Intelligence for their daily processes including hiring, Aurora50 did not just want to focus on real-world diversity but also aim to influence the virtual world.

Fixing the bAIs.

Using AI to fix AI itself.

Using image-generating tools like Midjourney, DALL-E2 and Stable Diffusion, We created a huge databank of inclusive and diverse images of women in various professions. We removed gender from their metadata (file names, tags, and descriptions) and added this powerful database to fixingthebias.com, Using an algorithm our website automatically uploaded this huge database to all the open datasets that are used to train AI and to stock image banks, social media, and the datasets used to train AI. With those images, we started teaching AI that all professionals can be women, too. We turned the tables on AI using its own tools and injected diversity directly into AI's veins.

In meticulously gathering data from MIT and UNESCO, we uncovered a concerning truth: AI feeds on biased datasets, amplifying existing anti-female biases is why AI image-generating tools perceive 97% of professionals as men.

Our campaign targeted influential figures—key players in the AI industry, policymakers, AI developers, tech leaders, organisations, media, societal representatives - who could spark meaningful change.

Operating across diverse platforms, from social media to open datasets, we sought to rectify biases within AI. Our impactful online video initiated a global conversation, grabbing the attention of both media and key figures in the AI industry.

Our approach involved generating thousands of inclusive images, strategically populating open datasets to reshape AI's perception of women in various professions Notably, we actively participated in the only Plenary meeting of the CAI, thematically linked to examining the draft Council of Europe [Framework] Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.

The project launched on International Women's Day, 8th of March 2023.

Using AI image-generation tools, we built an extensive collection of diverse and inclusive images featuring women in various professions. We removed gender from their metadata (file names, tags, and descriptions) and added this powerful database to our website fixingthebias.com, catapulting these images to stock image banks, social media, and AI training datasets. Additionally, we created a lifelong Discord community that continuously uses Midjourney and generates images to fix the bias, one profession at a time.

We have created more than 80,000 images and trained 9 datasets, including LAION-5B (world's largest dataset of 5.85 billion image-text pairs, the biggest openly accessible image-text dataset in the world and the primary dataset for AI image-generating tools such as Midjourney, DALL·E 2 and Stable Diffusion). Major stock image companies contribute by incorporating our images for free download.

Fixing the bAIs didn't just address the problem but created a long and lasting solution.

The campaign contributed to passing of first regulation on Artificial Intelligence, the EU's AI Act, which deems bias in datasets unacceptable, adopted by 52 countries at the EU parliament.

Its Being used as a benchmark to fix gender bias in AI at world summits and councils-Council of Europe and CAI.

Acknowledged by AI scientists at Ceimia and Mila + inspired white papers affirming its significance.

6000% Increase website traffic.

Emerging from a small startup in the Middle East, Aurora50 now stands as a global beacon of change, igniting one of the most significant dialogues on gender equality in the workplace with the highest echelons of political power, through the innovative use of AI.

Aurora50 is not only revolutionising workplaces but also reshaping global perceptions and policies, marking a significant stride towards inclusivity and equality worldwide.

By combatting gender bias in AI, the campaign aims to promote inclusivity and equality, fostering a more diverse and equitable technology landscape. For individuals, this means increased representation and opportunities, breaking down barriers that hinder progress. For organizations, it leads to enhanced innovation and performance by leveraging diverse perspectives. Moreover, the societal impact extends to promoting fairness and reducing discrimination in AI systems, benefiting everyone.

Aurora50 plans to collaborate with more organisations and corporations, and expand the reach of the campaign, contributing to more inclusive images and database.

Looking ahead, the campaign envisions continuous innovation and adaptation to evolving challenges in AI and gender bias. This includes refining AI algorithms, developing new tools for unbiased data collection, and fostering a culture of inclusivity in the tech industry.

We are engaged in productive discussions with prominent organisations, including OpenAI and other AI generative platforms, to integrate our dataset into their database.