Women Making Tech History Today
International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate progress and champion equality. In the tech world, this often means learning about legendary pioneers like Ada Lovelace or Grace Hopper. But while these historical figures opened the door, I find it's even more important to shine a light on the women who are making history right now. Today’s female tech leaders, engineers, and researchers are breaking new ground in software engineering, artificial intelligence, and beyond.
With the help of Irina and Pieter from technology, here are three inspiring women making history in technology today, in ways that have already significantly impacted our work here at Silverfin.
Mira Murati: CTO of OpenAI
Mira Murati until recently served as the CTO of OpenAI. She was one of the driving forces behind ChatGPT, DALL-E, and GPT-4, leading teams to develop these groundbreaking AI products. Her background might surprise you: armed with a mechanical engineering degree, she first cut her teeth at Tesla, where working on the Model X sparked her fascination with AI . Mira quickly realized that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be “the last and most important major technology that we built,” and she “wanted to be at the heart of it” . That determination brought her to OpenAI, where she not only helped build world-changing AI products but also became a vocal advocate for doing so responsibly.
Her latest role is guiding her new startup, the Thinking Machines Lab, which she launched in February 2025. Thinking Machines focuses on accessible and safe AI technologies, aligning with Ms. Murati's vision of ethical AI advancement.
Dr. Fei-Fei Li: Creator of ImageNet
Named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in AI in 2023, Dr. Fei-Fei Li is a Stanford professor and founder of the ImageNet project. Back in the late 2000s, she recognized that AI systems needed lots of data to see and understand the world. So, she led the creation of ImageNet—a massive dataset of 14 million labeled images—which became the bedrock for advances in deep learning throughout the 2010s. This enormous undertaking (which many thought was impossible) paid off: algorithms trained on ImageNet learned to recognize objects with uncanny accuracy, contributing significantly to the AI technology we have today. It’s no exaggeration to call ImageNet a foundational milestone, the seminal paper being cited more than 49K times, earning Fei-Fei recognition as a key figure advancing AI. Quoting our own Pieter: "that's about as foundational as you can get in the deep learning field".
But Fei-Fei Li’s contributions don’t stop at research papers and benchmarks. She’s also deeply committed to diversifying the future of AI. In 2017, noticing the stark underrepresentation of women and minorities in her field, Fei-Fei co-founded AI4ALL, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the next generation of AI leaders from diverse backgrounds . Through summer camps and outreach, AI4ALL has given thousands of high schoolers (especially girls) a chance to learn about AI and see themselves as future technologists. Fei-Fei often speaks about human-centered AI, emphasizing that AI should be guided by human values and inclusive perspectives. Her story—from immigrating to the U.S. as a teen who worked in a dry-cleaning shop to support her family, to becoming one of the most influential AI researchers in the world—is the kind of modern tech journey that inspires everyone. Dr. Fei-Fei Li shows that being a brilliant scientist and an empathetic leader aren’t mutually exclusive. By advancing AI and advocating for inclusion, she’s shaping an industry that not only excels technically but also grows more equitable.
Linda Liukas: Founder of Rails Girls
Not all tech heroes wear lab coats or lead massive projects—some empower others by building communities and sparking imagination. Linda Liukas is one such hero. Her journey into tech began at 15 years old, when she taught herself to code in order to build a fan website dedicated to U.S. Vice President Al Gore. That unlikely motivation lit a fire in her, and she discovered that coding was a form of creative expression. Fast forward, and Linda channeled that passion into something extraordinary: she became the co-founder of Rails Girls, a workshop series about Ruby on Rails, the primary framework in Silverfin as well, that grew into a global movement teaching programming to young women in over 220 cities around the world.
Rails Girls events provide a welcoming and engaging environment, often serving as participants' first introduction to building applications or websites from scratch. Many women enter these events unsure about tech but leave feeling empowered and inspired by their accomplishments. Linda Liukas founded Rails Girls to make web development more accessible, creative, and inclusive. She emphasizes a joyful, community-focused approach rather than technical jargon. Beyond Rails Girls, Linda has authored and illustrated Hello Ruby, a children's book series introducing coding through storytelling and play. Her work highlights how technology can intersect with art and education, making programming approachable, artistic, and diverse.
Their impact on us today
Although women currently represent only about 28% of the global tech workforce—and just 18% within our own Technology department—there are trailblazing women actively shaping the industry right now. They are leading groundbreaking research, fostering inclusive communities, and influencing policies that benefit society as a whole.
And while we may not recognize it immediately, technology evolves at such lightning speed that the impact of contemporary visionaries like Mira Murati, Dr. Fei-Fei Li, and Linda Liukas, on our day to day at Silverfin is very real, in ways both subtle and profound. So let's acknowledge that we don't just stand on the shoulders of (women) giants of the past — but also on the shoulders of those of today!