Our Head of AI, Lauren McBride, takes us through her journey in the AI sphere, the figures who inspired her along the way, and why the shift in focus from technical expertise to practical applications will see more women in AI roles moving forward.
It’s fair to say that when most people think of the preeminent figures in AI, they still likely have a man in mind. Industry heavyweights like Sam Altman, Yann LeCun, or Mustafa Suleyman dominate headlines and keynotes as the oft-quoted “big voices” of the field.
Yet this media prominence belies the number of incredible women who are leading transformative work in AI; less visible perhaps, but no less influential. Women like Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI; Allie K Miller, renowned AI thought leader formerly of Amazon and IBM; Joelle Pineau, VP of AI Research at Meta; or Daniela Amodei, co-founder and President of Anthropic. Each is profoundly shaping the trajectory of AI — from the ethical conversations around it to the groundbreaking technology underpinning it.
Women currently hold around 26% of AI roles globally — in line with the 26% of women in tech as a whole. However, as we witness the increased adoption and impact of AI from an operational perspective, I believe new career pathways will emerge, and we’ll see that figure increase significantly in the coming years.
Witnessing the rise of AI from the inside
My own route into AI has been far from traditional. Rather than coming from engineering, my journey began in digital marketing during the late 1990s, winding through creative production and marketing technology before leading me to where I am today.
It’s interesting to compare today’s AI narrative with the dot-com boom I experienced firsthand. Back then, many people I spoke with dismissed the internet’s potential, convinced that innovations like online banking would never catch on. Now it’s nearly impossible to imagine life without these digital technologies (who remembers a time before smartphones?!).
Similarly, just 8-10 years ago, few considered that AI could fundamentally change how we work. Yet even in the last year alone, it’s becoming increasingly accepted that AI will likely transform almost everything — from research, science, and healthcare to how we learn, work, and structure our operations.
I first engaged with AI from a marketing perspective around 2017, when most people’s direct experience was limited to (often frustrating!) chatbots. From collaborating with a number of startups who were implementing AI and tools such as graph processing, I recognized the opportunity to address longstanding challenges in marketing operations: such as how to leverage unstructured data to automate or enhance previously manual processes, or how to contextually connect and relate this information to typically siloed structured data.
Later, while helping large brand-owners with their martech strategy and implementation, I began to look for more ways that we could effectively use AI to support our client’s transformation objectives. Seeking to understand how to best harness this emerging technology ultimately led me to pursue a masters in AI for Business at Oxford University in 2023.
Now, as Head of AI at ITG, I’m proud to play a central role in developing our AI strategy. We have a really strong female presence across our consulting, product, data, and technology teams, and I hope to be able to continue to support and champion this incredible talent as we move into such an exciting time for AI in marketing.
What I’ve learned is that implementing effective AI initiatives requires more than just technical knowledge. The industry increasingly recognizes that domain expertise is crucial for determining how AI should optimize or automate processes, especially when leveraging it for operational management. I believe this shift will empower more women to confidently incorporate AI into their existing roles, regardless of their technical background.
Inspirational women in AI and beyond
I’ve been fortunate to learn from and work alongside truly inspirational women throughout my career. From the wonderful Dade Brown at Uovo who mentored me as a freshly minted graduate, to our own exceptional team at ITG, including Vicki Murcott (Lead Consultant), Claire Aldous (Head of Data), Abigail Baker (Head of Operations), and Lisa Kesterton (Managing Partner), to name just a few.
At Oxford, Associate Professors Dr. Bige Kahraman and Dr. Natalia Efremova provided significant academic influence and guidance. My time there also connected me with remarkable women in AI leadership globally, including the visionary Kay Nichols (AI Board Advisor & Investor), trailblazing Claudia Quinonez (Head of Content Innovation, Bloomberg), and brilliant Summer Collins (Chief AI & Data Director, One New Zealand).
I also couldn’t talk about inspirational women without mentioning my mum! Mum was a materials scientist professionally, and her philosophy of continuous learning and research to advance our appreciation of the world is something I’m forever grateful that she passed down to me.
Her unwavering support has been instrumental in my career journey — I honestly don’t believe I could have navigated this path without her encouragement.
The future for women in AI
The evolving focus from AI’s technical advancement to its practical application will likely accelerate women’s entry into this field. Professionals joining AI from marketing or data backgrounds — areas where women are more evenly represented — bring deeper understanding of the real-world challenges that AI can address.
Although the technology is advancing at pace, many organizations still struggle to maximize its potential. At ITG, we’re particularly focused on operationalising AI for our clients — integrating it into their day-to-day work, and helping them to understand how AI can change and improve their processes.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need deep technical expertise to get started with AI. As new technologies go, AI is readily accessible, and even capable of teaching you how to use itself. I love Ethan Mollick’s recommendation: spend just 10 hours using an LLM to ask questions, set it tasks, or simply experiment with it, and you’ll learn so much.
My career illustrates that you don’t need a classical engineering or data science background to learn and move into AI, and I wouldn’t change my journey for anything. It’s given me a unique perspective, and an ability to understand challenges and solve problems that other people might not see straight away.
If I were to advise women (or anyone) considering a career in AI, I’d emphasise that this fast-moving, dynamic field welcomes newcomers at any stage. Even seasoned experts who’ve worked with AI for years are learning something new on a daily basis right now.
My final piece of advice? Talk to the remarkable women who are leading AI transformation worldwide. Their experiences and insights might just inspire your own journey into this exciting frontier.