October 8, known as Ada Lovelace Day, celebrates the woman widely regarded as one of the first computer programmers and a visionary in computing. At just eighteen, in the mid-1800s, Ada wrote what many consider the world’s first computer algorithm, and she was the first to recognize that computers had applications beyond mere calculation. Today, we use this day not only to honor Lovelace's groundbreaking contributions but also to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM throughout history and into the present.
Ada Lovelace foresaw that technological advancements would have a profound cultural and intellectual impact on society, understanding that technology’s role was deeply intertwined with societal values, capabilities, and goals. She believed that for technology to truly serve humanity, it must be shaped by ethical and philosophical considerations. Her ability to envision the potential of computing long before its existence made her a true pioneer, especially in an era when women were rarely seen in scientific roles.
Taking such a leap of faith into uncharted territory was both thrilling and daunting, but her courage and foresight cemented her legacy as a trailblazer. Ada’s story reminds us that breaking new ground, while often filled with uncertainty, can lead to extraordinary discoveries. It also reminds us that with great discovery comes the responsibility of asking important questions of the implications and risks.
It's fascinating to imagine how Ada Lovelace would react to the technological innovations we see today: Would she view Generative AI as the fulfillment of her visionary ideas or question the ethical boundaries of such technology? Would she embrace these advancements with enthusiasm or approach them with caution? To spark curiosity and exploration, we’ve posed some hypothetical questions and answered them from Ada Lovelace’s perspective, delving into some of technology's most debated topics.
Would Ada Lovelace Build or Buy?
Ada Lovelace’s first breakthrough occurred while she was working with the “Father of Computers” Charles Babbage and his invention, the Analytical Machine (a general purpose computer that would hold 1,000 numbers, each with 40 decimal digits, and be able to perform basic arithmetic as well as square roots and comparisons).
While translating an article written about the Analytical Machine, she added seven supplementary notes; the seventh note contained the concept of an algorithm to be executed by a machine — what many consider to be the first computer program. Ada did not try to reinvent the Analytical Machine, but rather looked for new groundbreaking applications of the machine with ideas others had never conceived.
We know that Ada Lovelace built upon the work of those who came before her, illustrating the power of standing on the shoulders of giants rather than reinventing the wheel. For that reason, we have a strong idea that Ada Lovelace would advocate for buying a future-proof, end-to-end platform rather than cobbling tools together across the analytics and AI lifecycle. She knew the importance of having a machine that scales and this is a key advantage of a platform like Dataiku as compared to point solutions which simply aren’t scalable for the enterprise.
Would She Be Excited by or Fear Generative AI?
Ada was ahead of her time in seeing the potential for technology to augment human capabilities. She predicted this era would come. She made an early reference to neural networks telling a friend that she wanted to create a mathematical model for how the brain generates thoughts and nerves generate feelings. Her excitement also came with a tone of caution, which we need to heed today. She did not believe that true AI could exist, but our speculation questions if perhaps this was because of concern of what that would mean to human society.
Nevertheless, Ada Lovelace would likely be fascinated and intrigued by Generative AI, viewing it as a realization of the potential she foresaw for machines. Her visionary thinking about how computers could go beyond mere number-crunching to process complex tasks, like composing music or weaving intricate patterns, aligns closely with the creative capabilities of Generative AI. She might view it as both exciting and a bit cautionary — thrilled by the idea that machines could generate new content like text, images, or music, yet aware of the importance of responsible use.
Generative AI With Dataiku — Exciting for Sure!
Just a few weeks ago, we presented in Boston for an audience of executives from all industries during an event filled with thought leadership and innovative ideas on how Generative AI is transforming industries for our clients. During our presentation, we showcased how Prompt Studios and the Dataiku LLM Mesh can be used to scrape the media for tweets, identify new trends, and build out insights accordingly. Should Ada have been able to sit in on this talk, we believe she would have been excited at the way that the Dataiku platform enables everyday users to push the boundaries that we know.
Finally, we think Ada would emphasize the importance of tools like Dataiku’s LLM Guard Services, which ensure the safe and responsible use of large language models. We think Ada would stress the importance of having strong governance in place to ensure there are proper guardrails and signoff on the LLMs an enterprise is using itself, prior making it accessible to their downstream users.
Ada would likely emphasize the importance of understanding the underlying principles, ensuring that human ingenuity remains central in shaping AI's role in society. She would stress to use Generative AI not as a replacement for human intelligence but as a tool that could augment it.
Would She Take the Leap on AI?
Ada almost definitely would have taken the leap on AI, heeding cautionary measures in order to ensure that we are able to build a new societal ecosystem that intertwines with Responsible AI. Ada focused on the importance of ensuring technology is collaborative, bringing people together.
At the Dataiku Everyday AI Dallas event, we hosted a Women in Data Science (WiDS) event with a panel of amazing leaders in the AI space (be sure to sign up for the next WiDS events in Toronto and Dubai!). Our conversation covered key topics like the gender gap in AI, upskilling, and executive sponsorship in tech. Though women make up nearly 50% of the world’s population, we only represent 25% of the AI workforce. The lack of diversity in AI development teams is often linked to the perpetuation of biases in AI systems.
This matters because AI, particularly Generative AI, has the power to shape societies, industries, and even the way we understand information. If we don’t open up the stage to a diverse collection of people, we risk reinforcing biases and missing out on the perspectives and innovation of diverse teams. Ada saw this far before Generative AI came to fruition, but her message rings louder than ever today — we need to democratize AI and bring more people into the process of building solutions.
One way that we can make a tangible impact on this is through collaboration and bringing more people to the table. One of Dataiku’s primary pillars is collaboration — through the availability of Prompt Studios and the LLM Mesh, users of all personas and capabilities can work together to build powerful Generative AI systems.
Ada predicted that AI would ultimately depend on human creativity, imagination, and societal engagement. As more diverse teams have a seat at the table, whether building out the models themselves or the use cases that deploy them, we can ensure that this human creativity and societal engagement is done responsibly, for all people.
Bringing It All Together
Ada Lovelace Day reminds us of the excitement of this pivotal moment in technology and our history. It reminds us of the leaps and bounds that humanity has taken in pushing boundaries, inventing and pioneering groundbreaking systems that can be accessible to all of us, at our fingertips.
Ada Lovelace Day also reminds us that we need to be critical as we push forward, understanding the risks and maintaining technology as augmentation for human behavior rather than a replacement. It is time to adapt Ada’s approach of “poetical science,” seeing the power of Generative AI to have a positive cultural and intellectual impact. To do so, we must heed the risks that new technology can bring, ensure diversity in the systems we build, democratize AI tools to the people, and ensure the proper guardrails are in place to facilitate this.
Finally, Ada Lovelace Day reminds us of her curious and motivated spirit, igniting the fire for each of us to look into the future as she once did, beyond the current constraints we know to be proven, and ask the question, what is next?