Madame Figaro
.- During your scientific studies, was being a girl a subject?
Joëlle Pineau.-
In engineering school at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), we were 15 girls out of 80 students.
It is little but enough to compose a critical mass.
That is to say a presence, an energy and a solidarity.
I've been part of all the networks – women in math, science, engineering… More generally, I would say that when there are women at the table, they ask different questions.
Gender is not important in how we solve problems.
But in the way of asking questions, yes.
Read alsoGirls and mathematics: at the root of the problem
FemTech is developing on militant ground…
Because she questions differently.
What does stroke in women look like?
How does it manifest?
FemTech addresses key issues in a demanding, difficult world of start-ups, which requires being convinced of one's ideas when others do not.
And live with uncertainty.
Read alsoPeriods, menopause, sexuality: tech is finally at the service of women's health
On video, what if we asked the same questions to women and men?
Robots for the elderly, helmets for epileptics… Have you tested a very concrete MedTech?
Very early on, I wanted to build AI models applied to the physical world, which interact with targeted populations.
Metaverse and health, what future?
The potential is enormous.
In Canada, for example, our northern Aboriginal communities are far from hospitals, and video consultation is essential.
One can imagine embarking on the metaverse with augmented reality glasses and touch sensors placed on the patient by a nurse, while the information reaches the specialist at the other end of the country.
The metaverse breaks the notion of space, it can also allow remote care… With virtual reality, many interesting projects on pain control, or on depression are also emerging.
You champion inclusive AI. That's to say ?
We work at Fair to develop AI solutions that we then push into the public domain, through the Open Science movement, to democratize access to knowledge and enable others to use these technologies.
It is essential for me that Meta conducts this policy of open science, the cornerstone of scientific practice.
Furthermore, my conviction is that in 2022 every citizen must be able to understand the language of machines, learn the basics of code, as one learns a second language!
Because with language comes access to a culture and a way of thinking.
We are in such an interaction with the digital world, we spend so much time there that we need keys to tame it.
Learning programming helps solve problems.
And then,
when you start playing with this language, it's still very fun!
Beyond the formal, there is immense creativity.
A lot of artists are doing amazing things with AI.
Every citizen must be able to understand the language of machines, learn the basics of code
Joelle Pineau
You have been passionate about mathematics and the violin since childhood. The thinker George Steiner speaks of “sister disciplines”. And you?
For me, these two disciplines have a rigor and a mystery.
In music as in math, the more you master the basics, the more you have access to a part of magic, to this level of abstraction that opens up new questions.
Which leader are you?
I'm still exploring!
I manage 350 people, I work for researchers.
I have a mostly female management team – I didn't make it up, I inherited it, because Meta has a culture of diversity.
I defend flexibility on schedules, so precious with children.
And my driving force has always been curiosity.
* Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Group owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
