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When David Mesfin was producing his documentary on Black surfing culture, Wade in the Water, back in 2023, he had a problem. Like millions of other people since ChatGPT and other GenAI tools emerged in late 2022, Mesfin was experimenting and using these tools to generate imagery for the film. But the results were always the same: white surfers with darkened skin, says Mesfin, a creative director at ad agency Innocean. It was a clear sign that these systems werent built with us in mind. That moment made it impossible to ignore how deeply bias is embedded in the technology. This week, sparked by that moment, Mesfin and his colleagues have launched Breaking Bias, a collaboration with stock image firm Pocstock, and more than 22 agency partners. As part of the project, 16 photographers donated their time to capture more inclusive images to help create what theyre calling the first-ever Ethical AI Guidebooka framework that helps creators and developers make AI more like the real world. Only 2.3% of AI-generated images of dentists featured Asians, despite the fact they make up 22% of the profession. About 9.6% of nurses are Latino, but 0% of AI-generated images reflected them. As more and more marketers utilize AI to create content, its crucial to build and maintain data sets that represent reality as accurately as possible. The goal of the Ethical AI Guidebook is to spark a mindset shiftencouraging content creators, agencies, and AI developers to make inclusivity a core part of how they generate and use imagery, says Mesfin. This initiative is about more than just fixing flawed outputs; its about creating long-term behavioral change within the AI ecosystem. By offering practical guidance and real-world examples, we aim to help the industry build technology that reflects the full spectrum of humanity.” Training challenge So far, the project has created more than 96,000 images for Pocstocks inventory, and the images will be accessible to companies that utilize AI image generation like Adobe, Amazon, Canva, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Shutterstock. The biggest challenge for Mesfin and project collaborators was the vetting process to make sure they selected photographers who not only had technical skill but also understood and were connected to the communities they were aiming to represent. We werent looking for models; we were looking for real people, and that meant being intentional about casting talent that reflected the full spectrum of the demographic, says Mesfin. For example, when capturing Black surfers, we made it a point to include both men and women, with a range of skin tones from dark to light. We also prioritized having both male and female photographers involved to bring different perspectives to the work. Strategic approach The challenge of tackling bias in AI models has been an ongoing issue for years. Pocstock cofounder and chief relationship officer DeSean Brown says that if the goal is for AI to produce outcomes that would appear more authentic and inclusive to humans there needs to be a finely curated and strategic approach to capturing excessive amounts of images and data. “We need to target specific people, communities, and actions, [then] capture and label the images accurately with cultural and technical nuance, says Brown. Many content creators and collectors may not have the experience, process, or resources to assess negative stereotypes and bias or the ability to label data in a culturally accurate way. Continued partnership among tech companies, content creators, stock and data collection companies can help the industry get to where it needs to be. Given the scale of the task at hand, Breaking Bias is an ongoing project that is always looking for new content partners to join who want to help build more representative data sets. If youre part of an AI company, we welcome your collaboration, too, says Mesfin. This is a collective effort, and the more voices we bring to the table, the stronger and more accurate the technology becomes.
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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. When I was a young professional in the 1990s, I didnt aspire to be a CEO. (I was a business journalist focused on getting more challenging editorial assignments.) And even if I had wanted to run a company, I wouldnt have known how to cobble together the necessary experiences to qualify for a CEO role. Graham Weaver, CEO and founding partner of Alpine Investors, has streamlined that process for ambitious MBAs who, unlike me, know early in their careers that they want to be CEOs. Alpine, a private equity firm with $18 billion in assets under management, offers a CEO-in-Training (CIT) program that places wannabe chief executives in senior roles at its portfolio companies. A crash course in being a CEO During their time in the CIT program, trainees are immersed in all aspects of running a business. They have access to mentorship from board members and executives at other Alpine-backed companies, and they regularly gather as a cohort for networking and peer coaching summits. Weaver says the program, launched in 2015, allows aspiring executives to move into CEO rolesa journey that can take decadesin just months or a few short years. Graham Weaver [Photo: Alpine Investors] We created a system where aspiring leaders could come in and learn the basics of being a CEO with a kind of safety net underneath them, which gives them a very, very high probability of success, says Weaver, who also teaches a class focused on leadership and entrepreneurship at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business. The CEO-in-Training program is highly selective. Alpine hired 14 CITs for its 2024 cohort, and this year it will recruit about 10 trainees in a process that is set to wrap up in early summer. The company says Stanford, Harvard Business School, Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, and the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School all confirm that the Alpine CIT program is one of the most applied-to programs among MBAs seeking executive roles in private equity (PE)-backed companies. What makes a successful CIT? Weaver says the ideal candidates for the CIT program have a will to winthats something we cant teach, but he also seeks candidates who can temper their competitiveness with self-awareness and emotional intelligence. We used to not screen for that, he says. We would get these really hard-charging people, and they wouldn’t work out in our system, where its really team-based. Finally, he looks for people who can create a followership, adding, this rarely is the charismatic person who stands up and gives the big rah-rah speech. Its actually just someone people trust; they want to go where this persons going. Alpines program has produced a diverse group of leaders: Since launching, the program has minted more than 65 full-time CEOs for its portfolio companies; nearly 40% are women, and nearly a quarter are women of color. Weaver says his commitment to training a new generation of executives stems from his belief that Alpines talent strategy differentiates it from other private equity firms in terms of attracting investing professionals and portfolio company executives alike. He says rather than ceding talent development to human resources, he has sought to operationalize it through programs such as the CIT program and other initiatives. Weaver personally dedicates nearly 50% of his time to assessing and developing talent, he says, including evaluating potential hires to run Alpine portfolio companies, designing culture, and more. The Gen Z difference Weaver, who has taught and hired employees from different generations, is bullish on Gen Z, the newest cohort to enter the workforce. I know a lot of people complain about this generation. The stereotype is that theyre going to quit their jobs more quickly or they have their own personal goals, and theyre difficult to manage, Weaver says. But underneath all that is that they want to make a difference. When I asked how a career in private equity, with its relentless pursuit of efficiency, margin improvement, and cash, can satisfy purpose-driven young people, Weaver noted that several Alpine portfolio companies provide software and services to nonprofits or support their communities through healthcare and education services. He says he takes pride in making sure the people who work at Alpine and its portfolio companiesabout 38,000 peoplehave meaningful work and career opportunities. And Weaver says he appreciates the values that Gen Z is bringing to Alpine. They hold us to a higher standard, he says. If you can meet that standard, Gen Zs amazing. How do you train the next generation of leaders? Are you or your team focused on developing young leaders through mentorship, formal training programs, or in other ways? Id love to hear about these efforts. Send me your thoughts at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Read more: Gen Z Fast Companys 142-point guide to managing Gen Z Meet the youngest founders on the Inc. 5000 list of Americas fastest-growing companies Gen Z distrusts capitalism. Will they prevail in changing the system?
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In the early morning hours of January 7, 2025, Mario Tama, a Getty Images photographer based in Los Angeles, was woken up by intense winds. Every year, Southern California experiences Santa Ana winds, known for the hot, dry weather they bring. But these winds came early, and with record strength. Experts were warning that the wind, combined with high levels of flammable vegetation, created dangerous fire conditions. That morning, Tama had an ominous feeling. You just knew it was going to be bad, he says. The wildfires that broke out that day were just the beginning of a series of catastrophic blazes that burned through Los Angeles County. More than 40,000 acres burned, and tens of thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. The Palisades Fire alone burned more than 10,600 properties, and the Eaton fire another 9,200. And Tama was there to capture them. As a staff photographer at Getty Images for more than 20 years, Tama has borne witness to hurricanes, fires, droughts, and other disasters year after year. But the L.A. fires were happening in his own backyard. That proximity added another layer to his work. Photojournalists usually only get to spend a week or two on the ground when visiting a far-off location, before they’re pulled to cover something else. With the L.A. fires, Tama wantedand he says his editors encouraged himto document every stage of the journey. Since January, hes been photographing not only the fires, but also the clean-up efforts, how rows and rows of burnt shells of homes have turned into cleared lots, the way greenery has begun to grow back through the ashes, and how the community continues to come together. As national headlines move on to the latest news or the most recent disaster, Tamas images show the drawn-out reality of living through the climate crisis. People attempt to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025, in Altadena, California. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] An Incomprehensible Disaster On January 7, when the fires began, Tama started by heading to the Palisades, where the first fire was reported. The strong winds meant firefighters couldnt do frequent aerial drops to disperse water or flame retardant onto the blazes, because it was difficult for the helicopters to fly. It just seemed like they werent able to stop it at all, he says. Then he got an alert about the Eaton Fire, and headed that way, though it took hours to get through the traffic. Covering two major fires simultaneously was a shock. Shooting the Eaton fire that evening, he remembers watching embers blowing from a home and swirling in the wind, and seeing smoke in all directions. Those embers, caught in the record-high gusts, are what caused the fire to spread so rapidly. An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] The disaster quickly reached an intense scale, and to capture that, Tama knew he needed aerial images. Theres no way from the ground to do it, he says. Two days after the fires began, during a respite in the winds, he was able to get into a helicopter and travel over the Palisades. As the helicopter first passed over the Santa Monica Pier, he saw a sea of white and smoke, of what used to be families homes, he says. To think of all those families, its just completely heartbreakingand still, to me, somewhat incomprehensible. As a photojournalist, Tama is always trying to make the reality on the ground tangible to viewers across the world. But in the case of the L.A. fires, he says it was difficult to actually translate what he witnessed. I feel like, to this day, no image, no matter how hard we try, can sum up the scale of the loss and devastation, and the human toll, he says. So the only thing I can do is just keep going back as much as I can. Eaton Fire survivor Dr. Jacqueline Jacobs, 88, stands for a photo in front of her destroyed home with her daughter Madrid Jacobs-Brown on January 30, 2025, in Altadena, California. Jacobs said she and her husband never received an evacuation warning on the night of the fire. She said, We heard someone in the street say, ‘Get out.’ And we did just that with only the clothes we had on. And everything now is in ashes. Only the chimney is standing.” A UCLA study revealed that Altadenas Black residents were 1.3 times more likely to have suffered complete destruction or major damage to their homes in the Eaton Fire. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] Documenting life after the fires The fires have since been contained, but L.A. residents are still living with the wake of the disaster. Theyrenavigating the loss of their homes and the process of rebuilding. Theyre battling with insurance companies and the bureaucracies of FEMA. Theyre volunteering to distribute foodand Tema says those volunteers include people who lost their own homes. Grassroots community groups are even trying to save trees in the burn zones. The trees were a really important part of those communities, he says. Youre seeing some of these trees that looked like they were definitely dead, [now] with green growth coming out, Tama says. It kind of gives you a little hope that nature is coming through. Community events continue to bring people together to talk through their experiences. No one can understand what people went through except their neighbors, Tama says. Hes also documented congregations that, though their churches were destroyed, have met in other venues. He has heard a number of times that it wasnt the building that made the church, it was the people. In an aerial view, Bishop Charles Dorsey leads a prayer rally for the Altadena community and for his church, amid the remains of Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center, which burned to the ground in the Eaton Fire, on April 12, 2025, in Altadena, California. Dr. Dorsey attended the church as a child with his family and has led the church for more than 20 years. He plans to rebuild and said, “It’s not just a building, but home also.” [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] One aerial photograph Tama captured shows a prayer circle on the grounds of a destroyed church property in April, months after the fires. The current bishop had been attending that church since he was a child. Hes planning to rebuild, but in the meantime he organized this circle to pray for the community. The group can be seen holding hands amid a mess of gray ash and rubble. But even through all that gray, the picture shows some greenery growing back. It felt like a powerful moment speaking to the strength of the community, Tama says. In another image, also taken in April, two Altadena residents excavate calla lilies from outside the burnt remains of their home. This couple welcomed Tama in to document their story, he says, and he learned that the flowers were originally planted by the womans father; the home had been in her family for 25 years. Before the Army Corps cleared the lot of the burnt debris, they noticed the flowers had regrown, and went to rescue them. They were saving those, and theyre planning to replant them at their new lot, Tama says. Leticia Serafin and Paul Fonseca retrieve flowers at the remains of their home, shortly before debris removal by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors, on April 16, 2025, in Altadena, California. The couple lost their home of 25 years in the Eaton Fire and are residing next to their property in a donated travel trailer. Serafin said the flowers died in the fire but regrew recently in front of their home. They are making plans to rebuild. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] The importance of climate photography Since Tama is a Los Angeles resident himself, he feels a particular pressure to communicate the loss and the suffering across Southern California. And as a photographer who has documented climate disasters for years, he also knows the value of sharing such images. You want everyone to see this and to know that this happened, so that people are aware that these disasters are becoming more frequent, and communities and local governments everywhere need to be ready, he says. The more these images make it to the public, he says, the more people can start to wrap their heads around what our current climate reality looks like. The country has changed dramatically since the L.A. wildfires, which adds even more importance to their documentation. The fires broke out when Joe Biden was still in office; since then, President Donald Trump has waged attacks on climate resources, taking steps to dismantle FEMA, and cut other forms of disaster recovery funding. Hes also gutted offices like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which includes weather monitoring that helps communities prepare for climate disasters. Even more broadly, hes attacked and hobbled clean tech like renewable energy, and pushed for an increase in fossil fuelsthe burning of which leads to more greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, directly exacerbating climate disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and tornados. Tama knows that images have a way of searing themselves into our consciousness, our brain, in a way that statistics never will be able to do. He hopes his continued documentation of the L.A. fires and their aftermath speaks to people across the country about the reality of living through a climate disaster. If theres going to be less support from place like FEMA, he says, its even more important for local governments, local communities, to know whats going on and to understand how to prepare for this future. A rainbow appears over beachfront properties destroyed in the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Ocean on March 06, 2025, in Malibu, California. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] Last year, Tama was on the ground in North Carolina covering Hurricane Helene. He spoke after that, too, about seeing the level of devastation, and the strength of community bonds. Even though the two disasters are drastically differentand Appalachia and Southern California are not usually mentioned in the same sentence”he sees a through line. What those two disasters speak to is the larger issue of, this isnt a Red State or a Blue State issue, he says. Its happening in all states, and we all need to be ready and prepared and paying attention.
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