Debunking the “AI expert” myth

Starting off this new week by debunking the “(Responsible) AI expert” myth. Despite lofty claims of “egalitarianism” and “meritocracy” from the tech industry, folks from diverse backgrounds continue to get pushback from the self-proclaimed AI experts and this is concerning for many reasons.

First, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the result of multidisciplinary collaboration between experts from diverse fields like psychology, philosophy, mathematics, engineering, political science, and others since the 1940s. Second, it is disingenuous that the same folks who idolize college dropouts like Steve Jobs and Sam Altman now want to police everyone else’s technical credentials. Last, this technoelite gatekeeping with made-up arbitrary requirements such that only a select group is “allowed” to provide input on AI is worsening the AI ethics crisis by excluding valuable input from perceived “lesser” fields of expertise.

If anything, AI presents a tremendous opportunity for folks with expertise in different disciplines to come together to build safer AI systems and fully participate in the emerging AI economy. On that note, I had previously shared 12 AI roles that don’t require engineering degrees or PhDs and here are 8 more roles in responsible AI that need expertise in fields outside of computer science and engineering. ????

1. Senior Manager, Public Policy in the Office of Responsible AI (Microsoft)

Bachelor’s degree in public policy, Public Administration, or related field AND 2+ years experience addressing complex and rapidly evolving issues at the intersection of technology, law, ethics, and society. OR 5+ years experience addressing complex and rapidly evolving issues at the intersection of technology, law, ethics, and society.

2. Senior Communications Manager, Responsible AI (TikTok)

8+ years of communications experience - Excellent strategic, analytical, and verbal communication skills - Experience working with engineers and product managers to translate technical information into easily understandable concepts and messages.

3. Policy Analyst (Stanford Law School)

Bachelor's degree and five years of relevant work experience or combination of education and relevant experience.?Master’s degree in public policy or related field preferred.

4. Federal - Federal Technology & IP Legal Manager (Accenture)

Juris Doctor with 6?years?legal?experience in a compliance and ethics/governance function, preferably?as in-house counsel?focused on U.S. federal business. Knowledge of and experience in monitoring legal and regulatory trends and developments and translating those into actionable requirements.

5. Analyst, Trust & Safety (Anthropic)

2+ years of experience working in analytics-heavy or content moderation role. Understand the challenges and opportunities of operationalizing product policies, including in the content moderation space, and can incorporate this into our enforcement strategy. Enjoy gathering feedback, analyzing data and creating processes that scale.

6. Policy Manager, Trust & Safety (Anthropic)

Have experience drafting or updating developer-focused product policies. Have experience aligning product policy decisions between diverse sets of stakeholders, such as Product, Engineering, Security, and Legal teams. Understand the challenges that exist in developing and implementing product policies at scale, including in the content moderation space.

7. Manager-Risk Management (American Express)

Bachelor’s degree in management or science (statistics, finance, decision science, economics, or closely related fields) Graduate degree such as M.S. and Ph.D. (in statistics, finance, decision science, economics, or closely related fields); or MBA is preferred. Expertise in financial analysis, multivariate analysis and statistics / econometric modeling is preferred.

8. Responsible AI Senior Program Manager (Workday)

4-year degree in a social science, data science, computer science, economics, quantitative field, or business administration, advanced degree preferred. Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification. 3+ years of experience working with AI or ML product or policy developers, engineers, or managers. 3+ years of experience developing or managing a Governance or Risk Management Program.?

As the AI space evolves and applications move from hype to (business) practice, we will continue to see new roles emerge and teams becoming more multidisciplinary, reducing the number of products that are launched into the market without adequate guardrails.