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As Artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly present in people’s lives, one advocate says it can’t be ignored, especially given the implications on gender equality.
Persistence Theatre celebrated International Women’s Day a few days early with a luncheon and a keynote speech from Sister Elizabeth Davis, who focused her remarks on the emerging technology and how it touches on gender.
“Women are significantly underrepresented in the ownership, research, programming, training and shaping of AI,” she told audiences at the Delta Hotel in downtown St. John’s on Friday.
“And my message to you, my plea, to you, my begging to you, is we must imagine and use more creative and effective ways to ensure that AI is imbued with women’s perspectives, experiences and values.”
In an interview with CBC News after her address, she said people need to become knowledgeable about AI and how it’s increasingly impacting our lives.
“Whether your son is in the war in Gaza or in the war in the Ukraine or now in the war in Iran, whether your grandfather is looking at going into a nursing home, all of those seemingly totally unconnected matters are all influenced more and more by the presence of artificial intelligence,” said Davis.
Davis noted how AI appears in many different aspects of life, whether users realize it or not, which led her to question where gender fits in.
“As I began to look more and more at that, I realized that women, who are over 50 per cent of the people on Earth, have very little say in how AI is created, how it’s shaped, how it changes, how it’s implemented, who’s involved in it,” Davis said.
2026 marked the fourth annual International Women’s Day Luncheon hosted by Persistence Theatre in St. John’s. (Mark Cumby/CBC )
Davis’s address stressed AI has the power to be a democratizing force for equality, but also acknowledged its potential to intensify pre-existing gender biases.
During the luncheon Persistence Theatre announced Sharon King-Campbell as its new producing artistic director, who emphasized the importance of Davis’s address.
“I think Sister Elizabeth Davis’s speech was extremely pertinent to right now. I think about AI every day,” King-Campbell told CBC News.
‘My hope always is for a better world’
Being involved in the Persistence Theatre event and discussing issues openly with others is important to Davis.
“I’ve always said that women’s superpower is our ability to network, that we get so much done by talking to each other, by sharing stories, by sharing concerns,” Davis said.
“I love to see the energy that grows as we explore the dimensions that unpack the layers. So today’s audience was a wonderful example of that.”
Davis said March 8 shouldn’t be the only day gender equality is top of mind, either.
“When we celebrate International Women’s Day, it should never be a day. What it is, is a moment in time that allows us to gather our energies back, to reignite our hopes,” Davis said.
Davis said she’s inspired seeing young people in different fields succeed.
“My hope always is for a better world. I’m not naive. I know there’s so much that works against that. And yet I see so many signs of hope,” she said.
It’s also important she passes on her own knowledge, including by speaking at events like the luncheon.
“I need to share that whenever I’m asked and whenever I can, as long as I can,” Davis said.
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