Intel Israel uses AI to distill career tips for women entering the workforce

Intel Israel used artificial intelligence models to determine key tips for women starting on their professional careers.

The company released the results on Sunday to mark International Women’s Day.

The project, dubbed “AI for Women,” aims to help Israeli women find their way in the labor market.

The company’s artificial intelligence engineers set up a database for the advice (Hebrew link), and called for tips on successful career building from the company’s thousands of employees and Israel’s wider workforce.

The project assumes that “every experienced career woman is basically a ‘mountain of data’ consisting of her experiences, insights, wisdom and conclusions she has gathered along her professional path,” the company said.

“We looked for a way to leverage Intel’s technology to influence and do something better for gender equality,” said Intel’s Bella Abrahams, who initiated the project a few weeks ago. “We collected thousands of tips from all parts of Israel, different jobs, different locations, different seniority.”

After collecting the data, the engineers processed them with three algorithm models to extract topics, arrange groups, and summarize. The team from Intel Israel’s Natural Language Analysis Group was headed by data scientist and researcher Shira Guskin.

The AI algorithms determined recurring themes and narratives and assigned weight to each category. The algorithms were specific to the project, but based on existing Intel technology.

“It can analyze quality data, and not only quantity data like other algorithms. It understands the language,” said Abrahams, who started as an intern at Intel Israel 25 years ago and now heads its public affairs department.

The number one tip for women embarking on a professional career was to prioritize investments in career development, the company said. Professionals should invest in their careers as they would a business, and focus on learning, evolving and achieving long-term goals.

Some 38 percent of all the collected tips related to investing in career development.

Next was the importance of self confidence and fearlessness, which was part of 23% of all the advice entered into the database. It includes knowing your worth, taking risks, leaving your comfort zone, expressing opinions, and taking on challenging roles.

Third was the value of other people, including creating a support network, finding a mentor, learning to collaborate and avoiding negative influence.

Fourth was the benefits of love in the workplace — loving coworkers and the job and balancing career interests with the home.

Lastly, the importance of intuition, or trusting gut instincts, and using them to navigate the professional field.

Respondents included Ronit Adad, CEO of Microsoft Israel; Brigadier Gen. Sharon Nir, former head of the IDF’s gender affairs office; Michal Gera Margaliot, CEO of the Israeli Women’s Lobby; Efrat Duvdevani, director of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation; and high ranking women at the Inbar leadership school, the Joint Distribution Committee in Israel, the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel and Ben Gurion University.