By Tenita Abraham
Technology & AI
When most people think about artificial intelligence, they imagine futuristic labs, global technology companies, or Silicon Valley engineers. But the story of innovation did not begin there, and it certainly does not end there.
For generations, Black women have contributed to the systems that shape modern technology, even when their work was overlooked or delayed in receiving recognition. Mathematicians like Katherine Johnson helped make space exploration possible through calculations that guided astronauts safely into orbit and back home again.
Their contributions remind us that Black women have never been strangers to science, mathematics, or innovation. What has often been missing is visibility and access to leadership within those fields.
Today, we are entering another technological turning point.
Artificial intelligence is transforming how businesses operate, how information moves, and how decisions are made. AI systems are influencing hiring practices, financial approvals, marketing strategies, healthcare coordination, and education tools used by students every day.
describe it sometimes pushes away the very people who need to be part of the solution.
Rev. Jesse Jackson understood this better than anyone. His Rainbow Coalition was built on a simple insight: racism has long been the oldest political wedge in America. Divide working people by race and those in power stay secure. But if working people across racial lines ever truly unite, the coalition would be powerful enough to transform the country.
The opposite of racism isn’t just tolerance. It’s solidarity. Our history shows both possibilities. At times we have been divided by race so completely that we could barely see our shared interests. At other moments—Reconstruction, the labor movement, the civil rights era—we have glimpsed what multiracial democracy can look like.
That history should give us hope. Because if racism was built to divide us, it can also be dismantled.
Rev. Jesse Jackson spent a lifetime trying to show us what comes next. When working people finally refuse the wedge—when we stand together from union halls to houses of worship, from big cities to small towns—the coalition that emerges will be stronger than the politics that have kept us apart for generations.
Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and former president and CEO of the NAACP.
The challenge is that representation in AI development remains low, especially for Black women. When technology is designed without diverse perspectives, systems can unintentionally reinforce the very inequalities communities have been working to overcome.
That is why participation matters.
The future of AI should not only be written by large technology companies. It must also include educators teaching digital literacy, entrepreneurs using AI to grow their businesses, and community leaders introducing young people to the tools that will define the next economy.
Last night, I hosted The State of Women in the Age of AI Address, where we discussed these very realities. One point stood out clearly throughout the conversation: women belong in the room where AI decisions are made. Not simply for representation, but because women often carry the lived experience of managing households, caregiving, education decisions, finances, and community responsibilities. That perspective makes women uniquely positioned to recognize the real-world impact of emerging technology.
In many ways, women are already the backbone of the systems that hold families and communities together. As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into everyday life, those same perspectives are essential in helping guide how these tools are built, used, and governed.
In many ways, the opportunity before us is not simply about technology. It is about ownership and influence.
Black women are increasingly stepping into roles as founders, educators, consultants, and innovators in the AI space. They are building tools, creating educational programs, and helping businesses adopt technology responsibly.
This shift represents more than progress. It represents a continuation of a legacy.
From the mathematicians who helped launch astronauts into space to the entrepreneurs and technologists shaping artificial intelligence today, Black women have always been architects of progress. The difference now is that the world is beginning to recognize it.
The question for this generation is simple but important: will we simply use the technology that others design, or will we help design it ourselves?
The future of artificial intelligence is still being written. And as history has shown time and time again, Black women belong in the room where those decisions are made.
Tenita Abraham is a Certified AI Consultant, financial consultant, and international speaker dedicated to advancing economic empowerment through technology and finance. She is founder of Building Legacies and Sepia Success, a multimedia platform highlighting entrepreneurship, innovation, and generational wealth stories.
