Regina Simmons started thinking about artificial intelligence’s hidden biases while searching for a new job.

At the time her title was senior vice-president head of enterprise operations at Clarien Bank, but was being made redundant.

“I am a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry,” she said.

LinkedIn could suggest only two jobs: door opener and hotel concierge.

“These things are run by artificial intelligence,” Ms Simmons said. “I thought, either LinkedIn’s solution is broken, or there are some serious biases in the background.”

Her curiosity drove her to sign up for a brown-bag session discussing AI and ethics, organised by tech group Women in AI.

Entrepreneur Surlena Smith formed the organisation last December, concerned that women were being left out of conversations around AI governance and ethics.

“There are so many women who are doing great things in AI, but they are just being passed by,” she said. “There was a message on LinkedIn that came up where someone said that they couldn’t find any women to talk about AI for a panel.”

She said there are thousands of female AI strategists on websites such as LinkedIn.

She and Ms Simmons were quick to say they were not against AI. They very much want to be a part of the AI revolution, but in a responsible way.

“Let’s not do it and then, ten years down the road, realise that we really messed up,” Ms Simmons said.

She sees gaps in AI policy, regulation and resilience.

“If we put AI in place and everything goes down due to a blackout or something else, what is our back-up plan?” she asked. “We see firms putting AI in place and letting go of employees thinking that they can rely on a manual.”

She said it is important to put guardrails up around AI. “When it comes to making decisions, humans should be looped in,” she said.

Women in AI’s first event was a tech walk, where interested people got together and walked down Front Street, talking about AI.

They are hoping to do another tech walk in the near future, but more ramped up.

“The next time we do it, there will be stations along the way,” Ms Smith said. “The stations will allow you to have conversations on different topics. I want to meet people where they are at.”

She attends many AI conferences, but is often left feeling that she did not get anything from them.

“You hear people talk and get some cards and pamphlets, but afterwards, then what?” she said. “You don’t have any substance to go on. I wanted to create a different way to gather so we could really make connections.”

• To join Women In AI Bermuda e-mail: womeninaibda@gmail.com or see them on LinkedIn