Download PDF Spring Bridge on AI: Promises and Risks April 15, 2025 Volume 55 Issue 1 This issue of The Bridge features fresh perspectives on artificial intelligence’s promises and risks from thought leaders across industry and academia. A Word from the NAE Chair: Expanding the US Engineering Workforce Wednesday, April 16, 2025 Author: Erroll B. Davis Jr. As some would note, I am fond, perhaps too fond, of saying, “May you live in interesting times.” I have always lived in “interesting times,” ranging from working inside a UNIVAC I 8K memory unit in the early 1960s to working as the “computer jock” for Nobel Laureate Herb Simon, one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI), to serving as an Army officer during the Vietnam War to embarking on careers in business and education, in both higher ed and K-12. Obviously, no one would dispute that we are very much living in “interesting times” today. We are living in a time of political intensity with rapidly developing AI technology (and its significant impacts). Both forces suggest that we need more engineers from diverse backgrounds if we are to maintain or increase our leadership in an evolving technological landscape. Let me offer a personal example of why we need more people from diverse backgrounds in the engineering workforce as we venture further into the exciting world of AI. My wife and I often go grocery shopping together on the weekends. On one particular weekend, we decided to visit a recently remodeled and modernized supermarket, which is part of a popular chain. After we entered the store, we both had to use the restroom. Before exiting, I washed my hands as usual. My wife had a different experience: As she emerged from the restroom, she informed me that the automatic water dispensers in the sinks seemed to be working for others but not for her! I thought for a moment, and then I suggested that she run an experiment. I suggested that she take a piece of white toilet paper in one hand as she waved it by the sensor to see if she got a different outcome. She did. The automatic water dispenser worked when it detected a lighter skin tone. Her hands are a bit darker than mine, and I did not encounter the problem that she did. Obviously, this was not the end of the world for either of us, but it did recall several lectures I attended given by Carnegie Mellon professors on the inherent biases contained in AI algorithms. Did someone deliberately program skin tone biases into the sink water dispenser? I think not. But I also believe that if a darker-skinned engineer had been on the design team, my wife would have had a better outcome. AI is but one engineering field where we need more engineers and more diverse engineers. As AI continues to develop, I believe that we must have a diverse engineering workforce that reflects a broad cross section of the US population. This same point about developing more homegrown engineers from diverse backgrounds is echoed in the ongoing intense political debate about allowing foreign-born engineers to work on visas in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in America. One side, of course, wants to continue to import well-trained and highly skilled engineers. The other side wants to immediately restrict immigration, but that side is also calling for investments in education and the production of more US-born or naturalized engineers. From my perspective, this is a positive because once you go down the path of cultivating more engineers, if you are serious about it, you will need to reach into more diverse populations in order to achieve any meaningful outcomes. I firmly believe that this will benefit the engineering sector and America more broadly as we incorporate more perspectives into our engineering work, particularly in AI engineering. We need more well-trained and qualified engineers in this country, and we are not going to get the numbers we need from a small sector of our society. We will need engineers from every sector if America is to remain globally competitive. Sheer demand and changing demographics reinforce this sentiment. In “The Uncapped Potential: Engineering an Opportunity of a Lifetime,” which appeared in the fall 2024 issue of The Bridge, Norm Augustine makes this very point, drawing on a plethora of data. If we can increase the representation of women and other currently underrepresented groups in the engineering profession, we will not just get a few more engineers. We will get hundreds of thousands of them! I encourage you to read the article. Augustine makes it clear that it is time to do the work at both the national and grassroots levels. It is a step in the right direction for the engineering profession to recognize the problem of the future engineering workforce. However, it should go beyond recognizing the problem; the engineering profession should take some responsibility for solving it. About the Author:Erroll B. Davis Jr. (NAE), chair, the National Academy of Engineering