AI Collective × Women in Product Austin | Humans in the Loop Film Screening + Director Q&A
What does AI really run on? Not compute. Not models. People and most of them you've never heard of.
AI Collective and Women in Product Austin are joining forces to screen Humans in the Loop, a 2024 Indian drama that puts a human face on the invisible labor powering machine learning. Written and directed by Aranya Sahay, the film follows Nehma, an Adivasi single mother in Jharkhand who takes a job labeling data to train AI systems and begins to uncover the biases baked into the work she's doing.
Immediately following the screening, we'll host a Q&A with director Aranya Sahay himself.
This event is open to all: women, non-binary folks, and allies. Whether you build AI, work alongside it, or just want to understand it more honestly, you belong here.
As always, great conversation and incredible company will be provided!
Why you’ll want to be there
🎬 Thought-provoking film + Q&A with the director
🤝 Connect with product & AI folks across Austin
💬 Meet Reza Piri + get access to Productbot AI with $100 in free credits
🧑💼 Connect with recruiters from Oscar Technology
🧐 Meet Kat Rector and learn how Zoho helps teams run their entire business on one integrated platform
Agenda
5:00 / 5:30 PM : Doors open · Networking & mingle
6:00 PM : Screening begins (we start sharp!)
7:15 PM : Q&A with writer & director Aranya Sahay
8:00 PM : Open mingle, connect, and reflect
9:00 PM : End
About the Film
Written and directed by Aranya Sahay.
An Adivasi single mother takes a job labeling images and videos to train AI systems and slowly uncovers the biases baked into the work. A story about whose knowledge gets encoded into technology, and whose gets erased. FIPRESCI Award winner. Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant recipient (past recipients include Oppenheimer and Hidden Figures).
About the Director
Aranya Sahay is a Mumbai-based filmmaker and FTII alumnus. Humans in the Loop is his debut feature, inspired by observing women from marginalized backgrounds working as data annotators across India. The film has screened internationally, earned Oscar eligibility, and sparked conversations across both tech and film communities.
About AI Collective
The AI Collective is a global non-profit community uniting 100,000+ pioneers - founders, researchers, operators, and investors - exploring the frontier of AI in major tech hubs worldwide. Through events, workshops, and community-led research, we empower the AI ecosystem to collaboratively steer AI’s future toward trust, openness, and human flourishing.
Women in Product is a global nonprofit community focused on supporting and advancing women and non-binary professionals in product management. Our mission is simple: create spaces where product people can connect, learn from each other, and grow in their careers. Here in Austin, we bring that mission to life through meetups, panels, workshops, and casual gatherings where product leaders and aspiring product people can share experiences and support each other. Come and join us!
Thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible:
With 55+ apps in nearly every major business category, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific technology companies. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with international headquarters in Chennai, India, Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 19,000 employees. Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. The company owns and operates its data centers, ensuring complete oversight of customer data, privacy, and security. More than 150 million users around the world, and 1 million customers, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself.
Oscar Technology is a recruitment partner operating across North America and the UK, connecting companies with top talent across product, AI/ML, data, and engineering. With deep domain expertise and a network of over 1M professionals, they deliver high-quality matches that align with both technical needs and team culture.
ProductBot is the AI-powered product intelligence platform that turns fragmented data into clear decisions. We connect to your entire stack - analytics, feedback, CRM, competitive data - and cross-reference everything automatically so product teams know exactly what to build, and why.
By attending, you agree that photos and videos may be taken during the event. These may be used by Women in Product Austin, our partners, and the event photographer to share and promote the community and their work. If you prefer not to be photographed, please let us know at check-in.
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