OVHcloud

<p><i><strong>Eléa Petton is a Machine Learning Engineer at OVHcloud. During her interview with 50inTech, she talked about her vision for a more ethical, more inclusive AI, and why creating neutral AIs may be one of the biggest challenges of this century.</strong></i></p><h2>At OVHcloud, Eléa Petton Teaches AI to Be an Ally to Us, Humans</h2><p>A ‘loud and proud’ Breton with roots firmly anchored in the west of France, Eléa Petton works in a very mysterious and high fantasy-inducing field: she’s a Machine Learning Engineer at OVHcloud where she develops, creates and implements AI solutions for the Cloud.</p><p>Yet, as a young girl, she didn’t dream of computers, she rather wanted to become a veterinarian. She attended an agricultural high school in Côtes-d’Armor, but she soon realized that simply entering preparatory classes was a battlefield.</p><p>She was good at mathematics and had a liking for science. After her baccalaureate, she decided to return to Brest and study in a digital engineering school, keeping in the back of her mind the idea of catching up on biomedical technologies later.</p><p>But as chance would have it, once in her engineering school, she quickly discovered the world of Artificial Intelligence and fell headlong into this rabbit hole. From there, her path was a straight line: she first entered OVHcloud for an internship, followed by an apprenticeship. Since May 2021, she’s joined the French cloud computing company full-time.</p><h2>Opening People to the AI World</h2><p>I’m a Machine Learning Engineer. When I started as an intern, I joined a generic AI team that quickly split into two branches: Product infrastructure on one side and a Solutions Team on the other. I’m part of the latter.</p><h3>Internship: A Smooth Path to the Workplace&nbsp;</h3><p>I firmly believe in internships. Of course, each school is different and I personally discovered the business world quite late in my studies. But I really think the sooner the better.</p><p>I knew OVHcloud by reputation before I even met with them. They had sponsored one of the previous classes of my school. When I entered the working world, I wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do. Obviously, the field of AI interested me, but it’s a huge sector with many different branches. The word AI is quite a catch-all term, and it covers an incredible number of technologies.</p><p>Throughout my internship and apprenticeship, OVHcloud asked me to create tutorials on their brand new AI solution. I must say that the context was very particular, since I started as an intern in the midst of the pandemic. Companies had really slowed down their recruitment, and people were mostly working remotely. However, it allowed me to enter my field smoothly. I learned so much during this time! I gained experience and acquired both technical and human skills.</p><h3>Debunking the Myths Around AIs</h3><p>We’re working on multiple missions. We assist our customers by ensuring they understand our products. We integrate AI solutions. Everyone knows Chat GPT: we’re putting similar solutions into place. We create and compare AI models. Because we’re a French company, we must take into account GDPR rules and privacy policies each step of the way. I also code a lot and write documentation. Between R&amp;D and technological monitoring, we spend a good deal of time testing.</p><p>One aspect of my job that I really enjoy: I regularly give public technical talks. With the team, we want to make AI accessible to everyone, to democratize it. The general population is often taken aback and scared by this term ‘Artificial Intelligence’, because they don’t know what’s behind it. They see it as a sort of ‘Juju-devil-stuff’. We aim to promote our field and explain it in a simple and intelligible way, and little by little, we manage to open people’s minds to the world of AI, both at OVHcloud and in Tech in general. There’s still a long road ahead of us, but we’re making progress…</p><h3>OVHcloud: A Cloud Company Where People Matter&nbsp;</h3><p>I have been working at OVHcloud for just under three years and under contract with the company for a good year. They support employees’ career paths in several ways. We meet with our manager every other week: we discuss ongoing operations and whether we’re overall happy and satisfied with our tasks. We also have two annual performance reviews. In the first, we define our yearly objectives and the second is a follow-up to evaluate if our goals match our short-term evolution.</p><p>We’re encouraged to learn new things all the time, whether it’s strengthening our technical skills, improving our English abilities or even pursuing personal development. It’s important and contributes to a very healthy working environment.</p><p>Team spirit is key. We all live in different cities; I’m in Brest, one of our teammates is German and works from Germany. But we talk to each other constantly via videoconference. We’re curious people, always asking questions and discussing our hiccups. Training an AI can be frustrating and time-consuming: if it’s not in your nature, you’ll need to learn patience…</p><p>We interact a lot with companies across Europe. We share our knowledge on sensitive AI issues. We also connect with our clients, customers and colleagues around the globe, through online forums and social communities. We regularly discuss AI topics with our peers: I recently participated in a meetup with Japanese Engineers. AI is a rapidly evolving world and everything is changing all the time. Keeps you on your toes: two weeks off without Tech monitoring, and you feel out of the loop…&nbsp;</p><h2>The Way Ahead for Tech: Building an Inclusive World Through AI</h2><p>I’ve never faced any discrimination based on my gender, either during my studies or at OVHcloud. When I joined my team at the company, it was an all-male squad, but they only demonstrated kindness towards me, always eager to support me and share their experience. Integration was easy, natural.</p><h3>Diversity: A Discussion Beyond Gender</h3><p>However, I can’t deny that we’ve not yet achieved parity. And beyond that, there’s a lack of diversity in a broader sense of the term in our ecosystem. We must aim for greater open-mindedness, and we need more diversity in people’s origin and culture, as well as gender. And we can’t limit the discussion to a male vs female conversation. Tech must welcome non-binary individuals and minorities like the LGBTQ community.&nbsp;</p><p>This is a process that is both internal to companies and concerns our society as a whole. We mustn’t ignore those questions. At OVHcloud, the discussion on DEI is ongoing. We can also report issues of harassment or discrimination to our bot friend, Roger. The fact that there are clear and known policies against abuse within OVHcloud, yes, that’s very important. Training and tools like these should be part of every business, regardless of industry.</p><h3>AI: A World of Endless Possibilities</h3><p>I feel that I’m truly where I want to be and that the world of Tech suits me well. I get bored easily and I’m certainly not at risk of ennui in my field! The possibilities are limitless. People don’t realize how many different technologies are embarked on the creation of an AI. We must upskill ourselves in permanence, and think about ethical issues. Being offered to work in such a field, especially at the start of your career, it’s incredibly enriching and mind opening!</p><p>Artificial intelligence raises many legal and ethical questions, and the risk of creating bias on a large scale is a real thing. A well-known example of this: a massive company decided to let their AI pre-process candidates CVs. Most of the developers who’d work on this AI were male… As a result, the AI systematically excluded female profiles. Yet, this AI was, of course, not inherently biased, but its designers were, even unconsciously…&nbsp;</p><p>How to create AIs that are as neutral, fair and objective as possible is among our biggest challenges. We feed our AIs with who we’re as humans; it’s our responsibility to feed them with the right data.</p><h3>Five years from now</h3><p>My journey has only just begun. I’m not really sure what I want to become in the future. For the moment, management doesn’t appeal to me. I hope to continue to progress and evolve on a technical level, developing my expertise and I see myself more as an individual contributor.&nbsp;</p><p>There are so many avenues to explore! Like, I had the opportunity to work, during a conference, on the topic of AI and sign language. I met Tech colleagues with disabilities. We have a lot to do to facilitate access for people with impairments at all levels. Helping make AI more inclusive? That would be really cool.</p><p>AI is an exciting field and I feel fulfilled in it! When I entered my engineering school, it was the voice of reason speaking much more than the choice of my heart. Yet, today, it has truly become a passion, a job that I love and enjoy…</p>

Eléa Petton at OVHcloud: Building an Inclusive World Through AI

Team 50inTech