Nashlie Sephus, Principal Tech Evangelist at Amazon AI, is a trailblazer in AI fairness and bias mitigation. She dives into her early love for math and music, which informed her doctoral work in digital signal processing. Nashlie discusses her role in developing visual search technology that revolutionized part identification at Amazon. She also shares insights on the importance of responsible AI, community empowerment through her nonprofit Bean Path, and the necessity for diversity within tech to drive innovation.
Dr. Nashlie Sephus emphasizes the necessity of inclusivity in AI design to ensure fairness and eliminate biases across diverse demographics.
Through her role at BeanPath, Dr. Sephus aims to empower underserved communities in Jackson by enhancing access to technology and fostering innovation.
Deep dives
Dr. Nashlee Cephas and Her Diverse Roles
Dr. Nashlee Cephas serves as a principal AI scientist at Amazon Web Services, focusing on responsible AI practices by evaluating and testing various machine learning models related to diverse data types, including NLP and image data. Alongside her corporate role, she also operates as the co-founder and CEO of BeanPath, a nonprofit organization aimed at enhancing access to technology and knowledge within Jackson, Mississippi. Her experience includes significant contributions to the visual search technology at PartPIC, a startup acquired by Amazon, highlighting her expansive expertise in artificial intelligence and mentorship. Cephas emphasizes the meaning of representation in tech, maintaining that the opportunities she received compel her to pay it forward, particularly by uplifting underrepresented communities in her region.
The Journey into Computer Science
Dr. Cephas's interest in computer science was ignited during her school years, where her academic curiosity, fostered in a hands-on environment alongside her musical background, led her to discover engineering. A pivotal moment occurred when a teacher recommended an engineering camp for girls, where she gained insight into various types of engineering, especially computer engineering, strengthening her passion for the field. She highlights how her DIY upbringing, often necessitated by limited resources, spurred her inquisitiveness into understanding mechanisms and how things work, inspiring her journey into technology. The intersection of her interests in music and technology later influenced her PhD dissertation focused on digital signal processing in music data mining.
Challenges of Bias in AI
Dr. Cephas recounts potential biases in technology through her personal experiences, including her work on a voice recognition system in vehicles that struggled to understand her Southern accent, emphasizing the need for inclusivity in tech design. Her current focus on eliminating bias in AI began around 2019, aligning with her work on facial recognition technologies, particularly after the influential Gender Shades paper revealed disparities in algorithm performance across different demographics. By investigating these biases, her team embraced methodologies to ensure fairness and transparency, reshaping the design to better represent diverse user experiences. Her commitment to addressing these challenges is apparent as she emphasizes the importance of ongoing responsibility and collaboration in developing fair technologies.
Vision for BeanPath and Community Impact
BeanPath emerged from Dr. Cephas's desire to bridge the technology gap in Jackson, Mississippi, motivated by her belief that tech can drive transformative change and create generational wealth in underserved communities. Launching in local libraries, the mission expanded into acquiring 22 acres downtown, where the BeanPath headquarters and makerspace foster community involvement through various tech-related activities and resources. The organization is designed to adapt to community needs while promoting accessibility to opportunities within the tech ecosystem, supporting different age groups from children to seniors. Dr. Cephas aims to replicate this model in other cities, aspiring to plant seeds of innovation and empowerment beyond Jackson.
In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Rashmi Mohan hosts Nashlie Sephus, Principal Tech Evangelist for Amazon AI focusing on fairness and identifying biases at AWS AI. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on Amazon Shopping using technology developed at her former start-up Partpic (acquired by Amazon), where she was the CTO. She is also CEO of Bean Path, a nonprofit startup developing the Jackson Tech District, a planned community and business incubator in Jackson, Mississippi. Nashlie earned her PhD from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where her core research areas were digital signal processing, ML, and computer engineering. She has been featured in TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution, CBS kids’ show Mission Unstoppable, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Amazon Science, AWS re:Invent, Afrotech, and Your First Million podcast, among others. She also serves on several start-up and academic advisory boards along with mentoring others and investing in Atlanta-based start-ups. Her honors and recognitions include the BEYA 2024 Black Engineer of the Year Award, Mississippi Top 50, 2019 Ada Lovelace Award, and Georgia Tech Top 40 Under 40.
Nashlie describes her early love for mathematics and music and how these informed her later doctoral research in digital signal processing in music data mining. She shares a personal experience that deeply influenced her work in AI, particularly in responsible AI and fairness, which eventually led her to her current role mitigating bias at Amazon, notably in facial recognition technologies. Nashlie and Rashmi discuss the importance of building diverse teams to practicing responsible AI and building sound products, as well as collaboration with open consortia and organizations such as the Algorithmic Justice League and Black in AI. Nashlie describes the inception and growth of Partpic, an app she started developing while finishing school. She also talks about BeanPath, her nonprofit organization with a mission to bridge the tech gap in Jackson, Mississippi through makerspaces, networking, and community engagement.
