We Brought Women and Human-Centric Innovation to the Agenda at GITEX AI Turkey 2026

Emphasis on Women in the Age of AI

Our Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, stated: “We truly believe that training and shaping artificial intelligence-based systems in a fairer manner is very important, and that is why we are here. At the same time, we are here to support women entrepreneurs. Our friends are showcasing their projects here in person, and we are proud of them.”

Hosted by the Presidential Investment and Finance Office and held with the strategic partnership of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, GITEX (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition) AI Türkiye 2026 took place at the Istanbul Expo Center.

As part of GITEX—one of the world’s leading technology and artificial intelligence event networks, held in Türkiye for the first time—our Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, participated in the session titled “Women, Leadership, and Human-Centric Innovation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” She delivered a speech emphasizing that artificial intelligence is not merely an issue concerning engineers, technology companies, or those working in this field, but rather permeates every aspect of life.

Stating that the position of different segments of society within this transformation must also be discussed, Bayraktar noted that women constitute a vital part of this transformation.

Following the panel, Bayraktar visited the KADEM booth. Speaking to journalists about the event, Bayraktar expressed that they came together to promote KADEM’s Women in Innovation Program as well as the finalists and their projects.

Expressing KADEM’s sensitivities in this field, Bayraktar spoke as follows:

“Since 2020, as KADEM, we have been researching, thinking about, and conducting studies and readings on the relationship between women and technology. We have held two international summits in this field. In 2020, the title of our summit was ‘Staying Human in the Digital Age.’ Later, in 2024, we took a more focused approach, and the title of our international summit became ‘Artificial Intelligence and Women.’ Meanwhile, throughout all of this, we have organized workshops and panels, and we continue to address this issue in our academic journal.”

Bayraktar emphasized that they do not remain solely on the academic or think-tank side, but also maintain a presence in the field. Conveying that they support the initiatives of women working through artificial intelligence and technology via the Women in Innovation Program, Bayraktar stated that they also support women in cooperatives.

“Artificial intelligence is now part of every aspect of your life.”

Stating that the Artificial Intelligence and Women Project was also realized recently, Bayraktar expressed: “So why are we doing all of this? Why are we concerned with these things? Because the world is heading in a completely different direction, and technology is developing at an incredible speed. Artificial intelligence is now part of every aspect of your life. Many things that we could not achieve before can now be accomplished with much smaller groups and in much shorter timeframes, especially in terms of startups.”

Bayraktar continued her remarks as follows:

“So where do women stand in all of this? We know that however artificial intelligence is shaped and trained, and whatever real-world experiences we feed into it and how we transfer them, the results it gives us will depend accordingly. We know that men have a greater presence in this field. We see that women cannot take part or establish a presence—at least for now—sufficiently in the shaping of artificial intelligence. What does this lead to? Naturally, it brings along the risk that the discrimination women experience in the real world will be reflected directly into the digital world. And now, beyond just a risk, we are seeing this actually happen.”

Voicing that various forms of discrimination against women persist when artificial intelligence-based systems are used in certain hiring processes, Bayraktar said: “We saw that in loan applications, with profiles of similar backgrounds, women still received disadvantaged outcomes compared to men. Therefore, we truly believe that training and shaping artificial intelligence-based systems in a fairer way is very important, and that is why we are here. At the same time, we are here to support women entrepreneurs. Our friends are showcasing their projects here in person, and we are proud of them.”