How did your journey in AI start - what brought you to AI?
With over 20 years as a Tech-woman I have always been interested and curious about new technology. I get fascinated by how faster datasets of high quality can give us deeper insight! All this combined with highly skilled AI-experts will make a difference transforming business and automate processes faster than ever before! So my background in tech and my relation to my earlier colleague Anders Lier, that let me join as a co-founder in Propell.ai, brought me into the AI-business. In the end I believe self-propelled software is the only future!
What is the biggest change you have observed in AI compared to when you entered the field at the start of your career?
At first AI didn't exist! The last 10 years we have spoken about big data as a topic for all of the solutions we use today! So in short terms bigdata and warehouses were the leading systems for providing extracted data to insight! But in recent years we have increasingly focused on AI and now we finally see that there are solutions that work and actually ensure autonomous processes. So the train is going now and it is important not to stay on the platform if you are to keep market-leading positions or actually survive in certain industries, such as the accounting industry.
AI gives us the opportunity to work smarter and solve problems we never thought possible only 1-2 years ago.
What excites you about working in AI, and what are you working on right now?
With AI we can build a better world by empowering businesses to drive innovation and global growth, by harnessing the power of data. AI creates growth that doesn’t externalize social or environmental costs. We can use AI technology to create efficiency for the benefit of society and the planet, with roots in Norwegian values around trust, justice and equality.
It's important to use cutting edge technology to solve the grand challenges of the world. Use technological innovation to preserve and protect our rights to privacy, security, and ethical use of emerging technologies. In a world of exponential opportunities, we can create far more change with far less resources than ever before.
AI works and automates processes in so many areas for our customers and partners. For us at Propell.ai, it was important to be able to help companies become more efficient in their handling of invoices so that the accounts also become more accurate. What we do is remove the manual tasks of incoming invoice handling. This is also positive for the employees who do not have to sit with tedious repetitive work and punch invoices. The employees have a more enjoyable working day that becomes more rewarding and developing. Which in turn leads to more satisfied employees and a more efficient society. The insight we gain also gives us a better understanding and access to far better analysis than before. With AI we bring benchmarking-, predictive-, prescriptive- and cost- analysis in general to a new level. That excites me!
How do you see the number of female researchers and professionals in AI grow? How do you involve yourself in initiatives to introduce more women to AI, and what initiatives can we make to inspire more women to pursue careers within AI?
There are more and more women in Tech and also in AI. I try to spread the good news about how fun it is to work with cutting edge technology. I am also interested in building Propell.ai to become a company with a culture where diversity and gender balance are important to be the market leader. In my management team, therefore, 4 out of 6 managers are women. And that's because there are no equally talented men to take the roles they play.
Why is it important for more women to get involved in AI?
In general, diversity and gender balance and different backgrounds and experiences provide benefits in working life. Women can see things from a different perspective, which can also be positive in AI. If you get a more balanced gender balance, this can lead us together finding other and more innovative ways of solving tasks.
- Did you know that no country in the world has achieved gender equality? Yep, you read that correctly! Women are still undervalued and overlooked in every country on Earth. Inequality for women is one of the world's great injustices - an injustice that must be, and will be swept away.
- Diverse team with comprehensive and complimentary business building experience.
- Only by achieving Gender Equality can we achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Women are for instance disproportionately affected by climate change and have valuable knowledge and practical experiences to contribute to societal resilience.
For more details - see report from Mckinsey
What advice would you like to give women who are pursuing their careers in AI?
My advice, if you are interested in technology, would be to jump into it. Tomorrow is coming - prepare today is our slogan in Propell.ai. I have always been excited for new technology and how this can improve business. AI is working today and automates a lot of processes. It is cutting edge and an incredibly fun industry to work in, it is rewarding and if you like a high pace it is perfect. Here it goes fast and changes happen at a high speed. There are incredibly dedicated and competent people that work with AI and you will get a motivating and fun career if you work with AI.
Women can contribute to Creativity, Compassion and Collaboration in AI. Both by nature and by culture, women are better placed to benefit from automation. The inherent presence of empathy and collaboration skills makes women perfectly positioned to navigate the complex post-industrial world.
What advice do you have for organizations who wish to recruit and retain female researchers and professionals in AI?
AI is a new technology and an exciting field and I believe with all my heart that with more women in the industry the AI solutions will be better. Often we think a little differently than men and we need the input of all genders to be able to deliver cutting edge products.
Women's strengths are empathy, listening, multi-tasking, intuition, collaboration, patience and many more. Women have qualities that will get more prominence as AI and automation takes over the workplace. And The XXI century is bringing way too many challenges to limit ourselves to only 50 % of available human resources.
There are an incredible number of competent and skilled ladies in tech, it is our responsibility as women and leaders to help them take their place. Women are committed and dedicated and it is important that we lift women up and show that they can have equally important leadership roles and key roles as men in AI.
Who is your biggest role model within your field, and why?
All listed NORA “Woman in AI” and people involved in and startups who have been admitted to Nora`s consortium. I also think Oda Network is doing a great job lifting women in tech in general!
In Propell.ai we also have some great partners and advisors. And I would recommend all of you to follow Dr. Rumman Chowdury. Her passion lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the human. She is a pioneer in algorithmic ethics, and has worked with C-suite clients to create innovative, technological solutions for ethical, explicable and transparent AI, since 2017.She is the CEO and founder of Parity, an enterprise algorithmic auditing platform company. Previously, she served as Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture.
Some male role models are also worth mentioning. I have great respect for what the Norwegian founders of Vic.ai, Alexander Hagerup, Kristoffer Røil and Stian Rustad have achieved over the past 5 years in developing a world-leading Ai platform for invoice processing. They understood early that with their high-quality data set, competent people and good investors can build world-leading solutions originating from Norway. I have also been working with a fantastic person for 8 years in Capgemini and Itera - Anders H. Lier - and now finally back together in Propell. Anders is an impact investor in early stage technology startups with a positive impact on our planet. He always believes that the best way to make the world better is through businesses dedicated to solving the big problems and providing value to humans and our planet.
What role can NORA take on to empower diversity and inclusion in AI in Norway?
Nora is already doing a lot to strengthen diversity and inclusion within AI in Norway. Among other things through their campaign "Women in AI", which I was lucky to be part of in 2021. Continue to write about female role models who change the field of artificial intelligence in Norway and make sure that all these strong and competent women's meet and build networks and share expertise!
Happy International Women's day! Let’s continue to harness our collective power to make positive things happen and let's share data so Norway becomes a global leader within AI-trends we now are experiencing!”
About Gro Merethe
Co-founder & CEO of Propell AI www.propell.ai
Gro Merethe is the CEO and Co-founder of Propell.AI. She drives the strategic partnership with VIC.AI, the most successful norwegian AI startup in automation accounting. Vic.AI is founded by Norwegians and with strong backing from premium Silicon Valley VCs. We have a strong customer base across the US and Nordics. We will automate up to 95% of incoming invoices for accounting agencies and enterprise customers in private, state and public sector.
With more than 20 years of experience from the tech industry, Gro Merethe combines a long career in the industry with a genuine passion for technology and the people involved and her customers!
She has had leading roles in large companies such as Storebrand, If, Capgemini, Itera, Bluegarden and Visma. At Visma, Gro Merethe was sales director and responsible for all of the companies within the Enterprise division for state and private sector. She has worked with some of the largest healthcare companies, banking, finance and insurance, universities, municipalities, and other businesses within the private sector.
As the co-founder and CEO of Propell.ai, she is eager to make Propell’s one-of-a-kind, innovative technology known across the Nordics, and together with clients, make changes for today, with solutions for the future.