Invisible or Amplified? How AI Could Shape the Future of Marginalized Groups

This Foundry Square meetup is being hosted in partnership with StartOut, Columbia Venture Community, the Applied AI Association, and 1821.

Invisible or Amplified? How AI Could Shape the Future of Marginalized Groups
Artificial intelligence is shaping the way we engage with the world—determining what news we see, who gets hired, whose voices are amplified, and whose identities are erased. But for marginalized communities, AI isn’t always a neutral tool. It can reinforce existing biases, deprioritize underrepresented voices, and even automate discrimination in ways that are difficult to detect.

At the same time, AI has the potential to be a force for empowerment, increasing visibility, enabling advocacy, and uncovering systemic inequities. So, how do we ensure AI is working for us rather than against us?

Note: After the event, we will walk one block to Downtown First Thursdays, the popular street festival that takes place every First Thursday of the month.

Panelists:

Mariale Montenegro, Founder at Mentaport
Mariale is a Colombian entrepreneur and creative developer who has focused on AI and computer vision for over 15 years. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, she worked on spatial computing and AI for companies like Apple, Magic Leap, and Yahoo, where she led the development of R&D projects to production. Her company, Mentaport, aims to redefine the standards of content certification and protection by leveraging cutting-edge blockchain and AI technologies, ensuring every piece of content is immutable, traceable, and securely owned.

Renée Rosillo, Founder at AO Labs
Renée Rosillo is the co-founder of AO Labs, where she is building AI systems that learn like humans—efficiently and ethically—through real-time reinforcement learning. A Latina trans entrepreneur, technologist, and serial founder with multiple exits, she combines human-centered design with cutting-edge machine learning. Renée is also the CEO of Prism, a platform connecting queer founders, funders, and operators, and co-founder of FounderFamilia, the largest network of Latine venture-ready founders worldwide. Her previous ventures include Minerva Robotics, a food-tech company using robotics to transform high-quality food production.
Originally from Mexico City, Renée began her career at the United Nations, leading global youth initiatives. She brings a deep commitment to equity, authenticity, and inclusive innovation across all her work.

Annie Brown, Founder and CEO of Reliabl
Annie's company Reliabl is developing inclusive machine learning models to improve online experiences for marginalized communities. An AI researcher at UC San Diego and award-winning communications executive, Annie brings over 12 years of experience in media strategy, organizational leadership, and product development. Her pioneering work in participatory data annotation—now patent-pending—has been featured by Fast Company and Mashable, and backed by New Media Ventures. Previously, she launched Lips, an alternative social media platform with over 30,000 monthly active users. Annie has been recognized with honors including the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship and a place on the Gaingels 100 Inspiring LGBTQ+ Founders list.

Discussion Topics:

1. Algorithmic Amplification or Erasure: Who Gets Seen and Who Gets Ignored?

• How AI-driven search engines, content recommendation systems, and social media algorithms determine visibility.
• Real-world examples of algorithmic suppression of marginalized voices.
• Criminal Sentencing Algorithms — Reinforcing Antipatterns
• Xbox Kinect — Kids and People of Color
• How marginalized communities can push for better representation in AI-driven platforms.

2. Bias in AI: From Hiring to Healthcare to Financial Access

• How AI screening tools may unintentionally filter out nontraditional career paths or diverse names. This already happens today with applicant tracking systems (ATS)
• Mitigation reference points for neurodivergent people.
• The impact of biased AI models in medical diagnostics and financial lending.
• What companies and policymakers can do to prevent AI from reinforcing systemic discrimination.

3. Fixing the System: How Do We Build AI That Works for Everyone?

• The role of diverse teams in training and testing AI models.
• Past examples of what happens when non-diverse teams "don't know what they don't know" during the design process.
• Advocacy strategies: How individuals and organizations can push for change.

Meetup agenda:

• 5:00pm: Doors Open @ Galvanize (wine, beer, snacks)
• 5:30pm: 1-hour Panel
• 6:30pm: Q&A
• 6:45pm: Post-event networking / walk to Downtown First Thursdays

Meetup Sponsors:

• LEANSTUDIO
• Foundry415
• Galvanize Co-Working
• Applied AI Association