This is Erika. Creating trustworthy AI for our clients

Share this post:

Welcome to episode 10 in our interview series, This is my IBM

This week I talk to Erika Agostinelli, a senior data scientist and project lead at IBM. She gives an insight into her experience helping clients establishing AI Governance frameworks with a focus on human-centred and trustworthy AI implementations. She shares how IBM enables her to achieve that all-important work-life balance, giving her space for hobbies like recreating traditional Italian recipes.

Can you tell us a bit more about your role at IBM?

I am a senior data scientist at IBM. My current role involves helping clients govern their AI solutions by ensuring a comprehensive AI governance framework is in place. I focus on trustworthy AI and its implication in real-life solutions.

When did you join IBM and what led you to work here?

After finishing my master’s in Statistics in Italy and moving to the UK, I decided that I wanted to do a second master’s in Human-Computer Interaction. This inspired me to start a career in Artificial Intelligence and led to my first job at IBM 6 years ago.

What are you working on right now? Can you share how this project is making the world work better?

My goal is to make AI governance easy to implement. Some of our clients have hundreds of models in production; governing all of them in a standardised matter is becoming challenging without the right tools. There are ethical and regulatory requirements that they need to fulfil too. That’s where my team and I come into play. We bring a comprehensive AI governance offering to ensure that bias/drift detection and explainability are an integral part of their solutions.

What is the most exciting project you’ve worked on during your time at IBM?

That’s a hard one – there are lots! Working on the Cora Virtual Agent for NatWest was exciting because I was part of the original team that launched the first Conversational AI solution into production in the UK. I also enjoyed leading an inspiring and marvellous team of data scientists from IBM and Rolls Royce working on the Emergent Alliance Project during the pandemic: companies joined forces to design innovative AI solutions to support Local Authorities in making more informed decisions using data. And my most recent project was also exciting, working with a client to enrich the governance lifecycle with robustness validation – a collaboration with IBM Research focused on detecting adversarial attacks on AI-deployed models.

What’s the biggest challenge that you have faced on a project or whilst an IBMer and how did you overcome it?

One key challenge is to ensure we always adopt a human-centric approach when we build a solution for a client. The focus on technology and the realm of possibilities could mean we forget that we are creating something for an end-user: “Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should”. Only by continuing to ask questions like “Why are we doing this?”, “For whom are we creating this solution?”, “Did we think about unintended consequences?” we are going to create meaningful solutions for our clients.

Imagination and creativity are really important to us as IBMers. Can you think of when you last used your creativity to inspire change?

Although we have a process in place for proof of concepts and projects with clients, we always leave space for creative sessions with the clients. And it’s always exciting to do projects with new teams – we shape the solutions differently.

What has been the most surprising aspect of life at IBM?

The fantastic work-life balance that this company offers. If you cherish your hobbies and your social life, IBM is a great place to be. The flexibility of my job is priceless, and managers are very much interested in the results rather than checking your hours. You also feel supported by managers and by the great colleagues that I get to work with every day.

What have you learnt about yourself during your time at IBM?

I have learnt how to manage my energy and priorities. One of my mentors asked me “Do you know the difference between young football payers and experienced ones? The young ones will keep running for the entire 90 minutes because they have the energy. But the experienced ones will run a fraction of the length and they will be much more effective”. This analogy fits very well with my working experience.

As well as the day job, are you involved in any other initiatives? If so, please tell us a bit more about them.

With my focus on trustworthy AI, I have been involved in many of IBM’s Academy of Technology (AoT) initiatives around Explainability and Responsible AI. I’m also lucky to be part of patenting groups on Trustworthy AI technology, filing my first two patents recently.

I also support Women in Data Science initiatives through speaking events and mentoring young professionals inside and outside IBM. Suffering from impostor syndrome, mentoring was something that initially intimidated me. However, I soon found out that it was a fantastic learning experience for both sides.

Who inspires you?

As Galileo said, “I have never met someone so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from”. I feel like many people that I have met throughout my life have taught me something that inspired me to evolve and improve. I cherish different perspectives and I believe that each one of us is the product of a unique cross-pollination of experiences. Of course, my parents and my partner have a special place in my heart; they are the people who shaped me and always push me to be a better human being.

Other than what you do for work, what do you enjoy doing outside of work? Do you have any hobbies?

I love cooking and eating. As soon as I have time, my guilty pleasure is to find more Italian recipes to try at home. I enjoy following traditional recipes (and modifying them if ingredients are not available) and eating the final product with friends and family. I am lucky to have my partner who shares the same passion for food, so during the weekend, our apartment smells like a bakery shop!

Learn more about joining IBM as an experienced professional > https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/employment/professionals/

And finally, watch this space to learn more from the next IBMer in this series and discover how they turn ideas into action. What inspires them. What has surprised them. And what they mean when they say This is my IBM.