Now on bbc news, to celebrate bbc 100 women, click is profiling the most inspiring and influential women in technology. This week, a global click gathering. High tech ivf hopes. And a robot ballerina with no left feet. Hey, welcome to click. Hope youre doing 0k. Now, weve met some pretty incredible female tech pioneers in our time, but this weeks programme is going to be particularly inspiring. Were dedicating it to women in tech. And one female led tech company, benevolentai, has had a spot of good news this week. Yes, so this is the company that you visited earlier in the year, isnt it . Theyre using al to try and predict which medicines which are already on the market might be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Is that right . Yes, thats right just nine months ago, they spotted the initial indications that a drug usually used to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis could have potential. And it turns out they were right baricitinib has received fda emergency approval in the us for those who are hospitalised and on oxygen or need ventilation. In a trial of 1,000 seriously ill patients, the medicine, combined with anti viral remdesivir, was shown to help reduce coronavirus deaths by nearly 3 . There was also a 5 reduction in those needing ventilation, and on average, hospital stays were reduced by a day. The Company Behind this uses ai to crunch massive amounts of data, beyond what would be humanly possible, to understand the mechanisms of disease, as well as the properties of already approved drugs. Now, a lot of people were looking at virals, anti virals, and how they might potentially treat the disease. We looked at it from a completely different way. We said, what are the other types of approved drugs that might inhibit the progression of that disease in the body . So we surfaced a number of drugs, and then we did some experimentation based on that further research. And then we came up with this one drug that we think is best suited. It has both Anti Inflammatory Properties as well as the ability to stop whats called endocytosis, which is what enables the virus to enter the lungs, which is the most potentially dangerous outcome of the coronavirus. A brilliant use of ai there. And baroness joanna shields, ceo of benevolentai, is the first of many women in tech featuring on this weeks show. Every year, the bbc 100 women project celebrates women from all walks of life and highlights their stories. And as part of that, we invited more than 100 women who are just starting out in their careers in tech to meet three female leaders who have already made it big. Kitty knolls from our team hosted everyone virtually from our bbc studio in london. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this very special click virtual event. Joining us from their corners of the world were serene 0w from singapore, whos head of data science at grab, a multibillion dollar ride hailing giant dominating southeast asia. Erica joy baker, who set her alarm clock very early to dial in from silicon valley. Formally a pioneer at microsoft, google and slack, shes now the director of engineering at github. And nicola mendelsohn, whojoined us online from here in london. Shes facebooks vp of europe, middle east and asia. Her work has been recognised by the queen. 0ur audience beamed in from over 30 countries across the globe. Each nation with its unique set of challenges, but united over the shared experience of being a woman in tech. Im robyn mckenzie, im 18, and ive just started studying Product Design in cardiff. Hi, im sara. Im 21 years old, and im from tehran, iran. Im an undergraduate student in computer engineering. Im bo, im 2a, and ijust finished my degree in Computer Science in seoul, south korea. My name is susan, im 24, and ijust recently started working as an ict officer for the Health Department in kenya. Im alice, im 26 years old, and im currently living in birmingham. Theres a kind of atmosphere of fraternity or bro grammer culture, and i sometimes feel im not welcome. Im just one of the few girls in my course. And throughout pretty much my entire education, ive been put in situations where the guys have behaved a bit like theyre better than everyone else. It kind of makes the prospects of being one of the women in the Tech Industry not only scary but kind of terrifying at times. Should i present myself a little bit differently to fit in that male atmosphere . Just be yourself. You are who you are, and you should be proud of that. So, you know, dont feel like you have to fit in a particular mould, or even worse, a male mould, just to get the job. And i think, you know, first and foremost, like i always say, i think capability should speak for itself, where i think personality is another thing all together. So, you know, let your personality shine, i think thats important. You can choose to try to change yourself to fit in, but that is costly. Overtime, thats going to end up wearing on you pretty hard because youre going to be a completely different person at work. You deserve better than that. You deserve a company who can see you for you are, value you for who you are and support you in that. And so if you get to a company that has that bro grammer culture, whos demanding that of you, skip it. If you are having trouble finding a job with an ml background, let me know, i have many for you. When we get to university, its kind of expected from us to fail. And when we dont, people automatically assume that we have probably had inappropriate relations with our superiors or professors or our tas. That needs to be called out. You need to find somebody in a leadership position that you can share the concerns with, and you need to rely on others. And i have had in earlier times in my career where ive had difficult situations, where sometimes i might not be able to approach the manager, in your case, you know, the professor or the lecturer. And so ive gone around and tried to find somebody else to be there. But i think its very important that, post university, post studying, that you place yourself in a situation where you are able to thrive, where you are able to feel confident in the work that youre doing. Lara but getting the job is just the first hurdle. Bias in the workplace comes in many forms, and both race and gender can introduce challenges. We are meeting a new client for the first time and he walks into the room and he just starts addressing the oldest looking male in the room at the time. And what ive learned is that, eventually, if you actually focus, just cut out the noise, and just focus at really becoming good at what you do, eventually, i think, in the long run, that will prove itself and show itself. I would really like to know how it is to be a minority in tech where you are, or to be a mother in tech, and what challenges you have faced. While im not a mother in tech, i am a minority in tech, and i can touch on that some. Ill be really honest, its a challenge sometimes, you know . There was a while where i was the only black woman in my building because im an engineer. And it can get isolating. Its super crucial to be able to find community outside of work. So, right now, i have a very Strong Network full of women from many races, and we connect quite frequently. You know, werejust sounding boards for one another. My dream is to work at a Big Tech Company in the uk or in the us and also to have a big family too. You can absolutely do that. Im working at facebook, and i am mum of four kids. And i am very proud that i am able to do both. And guess what . Mums are using our products and so we want to be hiring more mums as well. So, give us a call, susan. Why not . Lara and there isntjust one route into the industry either. Im halfway through a coding boot camp right now, which im really enjoying, and i feel like programming will be our language of our future. Its a field that i wish id gotten into earlier or had more access to at a younger age. So, how do you guys feel about hiring people from boot camps as opposed to traditional education . I am absolutely thrilled to hire people from boot camps. In the us, at least, we have some biases in our School System that select young girls out of mathematics and science and we need to do better at supporting them as an industry. So, Apprenticeship Programmes are really popular right now at tech companies, and those are great ways to get started once youve finished your boot camp, to get your foot in the door. Countries around the world actively need more people, notjust women, but boys and girls to learn these languages. Often, people think that if youre in engineering, then you have to just be in the engineering side of it, they dont understand that there is a design side, and that it might notjust be in a tech company, you could be in a fashion company, you could be in a retail company. There are going to be jobs all over the place. Both gender equality and the Diverse Workforce are essential for Better Technology too. Quite frankly, if were trying to build software for the entire world, the entire world has to be represented in the room. And so, if youre Building Software with only men in the room, youre going to end up with problems where the Software Fails for women, just flat out. Applause thank you, everyone. That is all we have time for. A huge thank you to our expert panellists and to our fabulous audience, those whove spoken and those whove looked in as well. It has been such a blast. Take care, and well see you soon. Hello, and welcome to the week in tech. It was the week that elon musk passed bill gates to become the worlds second richest person. The Cryptocurrency Bitcoin hit a new record high, 19,510, exceeding by 60 its previous high in 2017. And apples head of Global Security was charged with bribery. Thomas moyer is accused of offering ipads worth over 70,000 in exchange for concealed firearms licenses. Twitter has proposed criteria for blocking hate speech and disinformation and is asking for Public Feedback on this. China launched a lunar probe from the Southern Province of hainan. The change 5s mission is to bring lunar rocks to earth. Its the First Mission of its kind for the Chinese Space programme, and a first attempt to gather moon material for 44 years. And finally this week, if you cant get out of your house, heres a robot that can do your yard work for you. The yardoid robot looks like a small tank and cuts grass on its own. It has a water gun for targeting weeds and pests, can refuel its own water tank, and even change jobs to work as a security guard. Baby cries at five pounds and 12 ounces, louisejoy brown proved for the very first time in vitro fertilisation actually worked. 42 years on, and some eight million babies have been born the same way, after an egg has been fertilised ina lab. But ivf costs thousands. It remains an expensive gamble and emotionally stressful. Just one in three women get pregnant after their first cycle. So, we met two women whove turned to tech to help. Going through infertility is one of the most difficult things ever that ive ever had to experience. Youre constantly in and out of hospital, youre having to make up kind of excuses as to why youre not in work. It literally feels like youre just throwing money down the drain. To go through the ivf, and then to get a negative test result is just heartbreaking. I think i sat in bed for about 3 4 days, just pretty much nonstop crying. With such a heavy price placed on failure, anything that improves the chances of success could have a huge impact for would be parents. Here in israel, one teen believes that al can change those odds. Traditionally, a human embryologist grades how viable eggs are. But this is a time consuming, manual and subjective process. There are many decisions that are based on gut feeling and personal experience. And even if you go to the same ivf centres, two experts can give you different opinions on the same embryo. Instead of relying on human expertise, this system uses geometric deep learning the branch of ai that goes beyond just visual images, the written word, or voice recognition. Its been trained on data from tens of thousands of videos and images, as well as patient data and Environmental Data from the lab. In geometric deep learning, youre not limited to the type of information that youre trying to analyse. For example, you can analyse graphs and 3d figures, and many other types of information. A clinical paper presented by the team this year suggests its methods are almost 20 better than human experts at selecting a viable embryo. The ai is also potentially 30 better at identifying an embryo that wouldnt result in a successful pregnancy. Patients like anna are already benefiting from this type of ai egg selection. Translation of course, im very happy im pregnant now. When i told my husband the news, he cried. This is all promising, but embryonics will need to continue piloting in the wider scientific community. We can use this technology and really create good prediction models through artificial intelligence. And its proven that it works. It can help embryologists pick the right embryo, so the patient achieves a pregnancy a lot quicker. It can help inform a patient to whether they keep having treatment, if their chances are very low. And a prediction model will say that it may influence their decision to move on to other types of treatment, or move away from treatment. So, it really will give good choices for both the clinical staff and patients. But what we do have to do isjust be a little bit cautious. Its early days, it is emerging technology, and patientsjust need to work out whether, if this is something theyll be charged for, that this will make a difference for them now. While ai egg selection is still being piloted, many other technologies are also helping people to become parents. Third time lucky, and ligia did finally get pregnant with support from the worlds first online ivf clinic. This uses an app to offer 24 7 support to those trying for a baby, and can cut hospital visits down to just two. The clinic has also now launched an ai tool that it says will help more couples to conceive. This uses half a million data points from the governments fertility clinic regulator, and looks at a patients age, weight, and lifestyle. After giving these three elements, well actually give you a score, telling you what are your chances to conceive, and you will be able to play on the parameters to actually see, 0k, if i quit smoking, how does that affect my fertility . If i drink a bit less, what is the effect . If i lose weight, what is the effect . The tool estimates a womans chances for natural conception or ivf with an egg or sperm donor, whilst keeping personal data safe. The idea is to leave the data in the clinic to have it anonymized, and that the algorithm actually travels. If you use Something Like waze, you know that actually, its not all of the data from all of the people using waze that is collected and centralised. Actually, the algorithm is learning on everyones phones and becoming more clever for the others to benefit. And for patients like anna and ligia, their high tech ivf journey isnt over yet. Translation if i want to try for another baby after this, i will ask the doctor to use artificial intelligence. We have considered having a second child, because wed like to have siblings. I mean, its automatically a friend, isnt it, for your child . Wow, that was literally life changing stuff. Its not always about practical outcomes, though. Some technology is just about pushing the boundaries of creativity as this quantum physicist, trained astronaut, and ballerina has been showing us. So, my name is merritt moore, and im a ballet dancer and physicist. As a young kid, i never spoke a lot. And so, then, when i found dance at 13, i became instantly hooked. I was going to quite an academic school. And following those lines of not being particularly verbal when i was a kid, and also loving puzzles, i then fell into physics. All this time, its been ive had to pursue physics and dance, like, totally separated. And after i graduated from my phd, ijust had this feeling of, like, why not both . I had access to, like, this amazing robot, a universal robot in norway that i would start to work with in between performances and after rehearsals, late at night. And that developed, and i was working with the robot, and i wasjust so inspired by the way that it moves and how it inspired new movement from me and the collaboration of technology and human and bringing that together. Working with the robots and including dance, ithink. Part of the important part is and the mission is to open up the conversation and to discuss, break down the stereotypes, and to show that, a, you can have fun working with tech, you can be super creative and imaginative. Its not science is not being given a book and memorising in the corner. Its all about collaboration and bringing ideas. And the more creative you are, the better youd actually be at tech and science. So, when i was at Norwegian National ballet, i got covered in motion i went into the motion capture suit, and i was dancing to music, and we were storing my movement as data points to then train ai and to see what kind of new movements it could come up with. And from there, we then wanted to map that onto the robot, and see what inspiring choreography it could come up with. Ai and tech, and the robots can be used as a tool to inspire new Creative Ideas for us humans, to allow us to be more creative. Tech and science is for everyone, especially for girls, where they might feel that theyre excluded from pursuing that as a career path. I would say no. I want to break down that stereotype and say, look, you can be super creative, you can be artistic. Its all about imagination, its all about pushing, breaking down those stereotypes and being free. And whichever path you want to take, you and whatever passions you have, you can combine them to be uniquely you and pursue what really drives you. That was one of the most beautiful reports ive seen all year. Wasnt that great . Absolutely. Oh, gosh. Anyway, thats it for this week. Butjust before we go, have you heard click is doing a live show online and youre invited . Its happening on thursday the 10th of december at 12 30 gmt, where well be celebrating 20 years on air yes, and we want to share our 20th birthday with you. And lets face it, who doesnt need a Virtual Party right now . So, for your chance to be in the live audience, to share the memories and have a chat with the click family, then send us a direct message via instagram or twitter at bbcclick. Click at 20, a live celebration, is coming soon. In the meantime, thanks for watching, and well see you next week. Bye bye. Hello there. Its quiet out there, but it is rather grey. Its been a drab start to our sunday morning and you can see this is a fairly typical weather watcher picture. Hopefully the mist will lift, but im not sure the cloud is going to break up that much. Best of any bright, sunny spells likely to be reserved for north east scotland after a chilly start here and perhaps brightening up across wales and south west england. But the cloud thick enough for the odd spot or two of drizzle at times. It stays pretty murky for much of the afternoon, but at least with light winds, it is going to stay pretty mild. Temperatures peaking at 6 to 11 degrees, perhaps 13 in the far south west. Now through the night tonight, the cloud stays with us, but well see some rain and the wind start to strengthen as that wet weather pushes into the far north west. So temperatures are going to hold up quite widely across the country. But, yes, theres going to be some rain first thing on monday morning. So that weather front continues to move in from the north west, well gradually start to see the wind direction changing as well to a cooler source, the breeze picking up with the rain. The heaviest of the rain looks likely to be across scotland, northern ireland, north west england and wales, as it pushes its way through the midlands down into central and southern england it should weaken off substantially. Bright and breezy following on behind, but a little bit cooler with around seven to eight degrees. But we should see highest values once again of 11 celsius. Now, moving out of monday into tuesday, our weather front continues to sink its way south and then a northerly wind direction really starts to develop. And that will bring a difference to the feel of the weather, particularly across the east. So with that wind running down through north sea a little bit on the chilly side on exposed coasts, and you could be waking up first thing in the morning across scotland and north east england to an Early Morning frost. Also, though, some lovely spells of sunshine across much of central and eastern england. Yes, that wind will make it feel cooler on exposed coasts. The further west you go, the cloud thickens and perhaps it will stay largely dry and a little milder here with ten degrees along the east coast, were looking at a high of six to eight. Then further ahead, it looks likely that we could continue to see an unsettled theme developing and the northerly winds stays with us. So, cooler for all. Good afternoon. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, says the government is listening to conservative mps who are unhappy with the latest coronavirus restrictions for england. The revised tier system comes into force next week, replacing the current lockdown. Most of england will be in the highest two levels of restrictions. 0ur Political Correspondent ellie price reports. Tis the season to be jolly careful said borisjohnson tis the season to be jolly careful said Boris Johnson last tis the season to be jolly careful said borisjohnson last week and he needs to be, with a potential rebellion of his own mps unhappy about
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