AI convinced all engineers are white men in hard hats

Major brands, leading businesses and high-profile engineers have come together in a bid to change the online image search results for the word ‘engineer’, as an AI programme trained on the results of an online search for images of engineers found that it vastly misrepresents the profession.

The announcement came on This is Engineering Day, part of a nationwide campaign led by the Royal Academy of Engineering - and supported by a range of brands and engineering companies - to change the misrepresentation of engineering online, celebrate the contribution of engineers, and encourage more young people to consider a career in the profession. 

Over 100 brands across the UK that depend on engineering - including the BBC, Facebook, ITV, Transport for London, Ocado, Rolls-Royce and National Grid - have signed a pledge to increase the public visibility of more representative images of engineers and engineering, and helped create a new library of free to use images of engineers that better represent what engineers and engineering really look like (www.flickr.com/thisisengineering/). This has been developed to encourage website owners and image users to deploy a more diverse range of images when showcasing engineers and the industries in which they work.

• Amazon Alexa answered questions about ‘This is Engineering Day’ and the role of engineers, and Amazon ran engineering-focused tours and STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) workshops in its fulfilment centres on 6^th November 
• Network Rail showcased real images of engineers on 60 screens across 15 stations in the UK, and across the Virgin train network
• Facebook and Ocado created and promoted new engineering video content featuring its engineers 
• Google hosted an engineering takeover at its Portsmouth Digital Garage on 6 November