Merging history and gender literacy in the age of AI

As AI reshapes our world, Stanford historian Rachel Jean-Baptiste emphasizes the need to address gender complexity in data and technology to ensure equitable representation.

Working at nonprofits dedicated to international development, education, and health led Rachel Jean-Baptiste to a career in academia. While helping write a grant to secure government funding for development work in Haiti, where she was born, Jean-Baptiste consulted academic sources and noticed how they failed to reflect Haiti’s complexity and vitality.

That experience drove her to become an academic researcher focused on more accurately capturing the details that shape the big picture.

“Part of what we do in academia is knowledge production, and that trickles down into textbooks and articles and has the potential to influence policymakers, practitioners, and others who influence what is happening on the ground,” said Jean-Baptiste, who earned a doctorate in history at Stanford and is now a historian of French-speaking Africa and the Atlantic Ocean world. In 2023, she joined the faculty in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences as the Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden Family Professor of Feminist and Gender Studies and professor of history and of African and African American studies. She has served as the faculty director of the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) since fall 2023.