Hi everyone! Next week, we will be hearing from Viviana Siless, CTO and Co-founder of Quipu <https://quipu.com.co/>. Her talk is titled *Quipu: Leveraging AI to build an alternative credit score for informal businesses in Latin America. *This talk will be especially interesting for those interested in AI/ML applications, applied economics, algorithmic fairness, and ICTD in the Global South. Viviana and her team are also interested in engaging with potential research collaborators!
*Description* At Quipu, we operate in a domain characterized by limited available data for building and refining credit scoring algorithms for underbanked populations. To overcome this challenge, we have undertaken various unconventional approaches to acquire our own data, including the collection of self-reported data, access to open banking records, and the analysis of images and videos. However, a paramount concern for us in our data processes is the assurance of fairness. Our approach is simple: do no harm. We are steadfast in our commitment to avoid any inadvertent discrimination within an already marginalized population. To achieve this, we have implemented rigorous monitoring practices for potential bias related to factors such as gender, age, and region, ensuring equitable access to our financial services. In this presentation, we will provide insights into Quipu's approach, demonstrating how we harness the power of AI to extend lending opportunities to informal micro-businesses and offering a glimpse into the future of our work. *Resources* Link to one pager: https://docsend.com/view/ys9g4sda32i7f3qb *Seminar Details* Location: Tuesdays from 12-1pm in 271 CSE2 (The Bill and Melinda Gates Center) Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95254816636 *Presenter Bio* Viviana Siless is a full-time professor and researcher of AI at the School of Business at the University Torcuato Di Tella. She obtained her master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Buenos Aires Argentina, and her Ph.D. from the University Paris-Sud/INRIA, under the supervision of Bertrand Thirion and Pierre Fillard. She spent 6 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Martinos Center, MGH, Harvard Medical School. Her research work in computational neuroimaging focused on improving the diagnosis of neurological diseases by using MRI. Her work focused on unsupervised hierarchical clustering, graph matching, multi-modal 3D surface generation, multi-modal registration, and deep learning for data harmonization. Before her PhD, she worked 4+ years as a full stack software developer. In 2018 she co-founded Quipu Bank, to improve liquidity in the informal economies of LatAm. Viviana is the CTO, and directs the technical team, and leads the AI credit score building and the blockchain development and definitions. Check out our website: www.change.washington.edu! Best, UW Change Organizers
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