When Paula Gordaliza began working on the application of statistical theories to create fairer algorithms, in 2017, there was still talk of artificial intelligence (AI) in the future tense. Today, scientific articles on the topic accumulate every week and debates about the increasingly central role that algorithms occupy in society are omnipresent.
His line of research is at the heart of one of the most important conversations: his work aims to design and analyze machine learning methods that detect, control and correct possible biases in the results, which will contribute to creating fairer algorithms, eliminate discrimination in the results and, ultimately, to “that the population trusts more in artificial intelligence”, in his own words.
Trained at the universities of Valladolid (UVa) and Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM), in Bilbao, and an associate professor at the Public University of Navarra, positions from which she claims the role fundamental of mathematics. “Many professionals are involved in artificial intelligence, but the basis provided by mathematics is what allows us to solve problems,” he assures. This year, his work has earned him recognition from the Vicent Caselles Mathematical Research Awards granted by the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society and the BBVA Foundation.