The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) promised the elimination of errors of human prejudice. Yet while conducting research on facial recognition technologies, computer scientist Joy Buolamwini uncovered that some algorithms could not detect her Black face until she put on a white mask. The documentary Coded Bias (2020), by Shalini Kantayya, tracks the fallout from this encounter and the origins of the Algorithmic Justice League, while weaving in personal stories of people whose lives have been directly impacted by unjust algorithms. The acclaimed film will be screened at Her Dream Deferred 2021, followed by a special talkback featuring Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, Tranae’ Moran, Cathy O’Neil and Ruha Benjamin.

Film Screening: 3:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. EST)

Talkback: 5:00 p.m. PST (8:00 p.m. EST)

Panelists

Joy Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League. Her TED Featured Talk on algorithmic bias has over 1 million views. Her MIT thesis methodology uncovered large racial and gender bias in AI services from Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon. She advises world leaders on reducing AI harms through service on the Global Tech Panel, congressional testimonies, and keynotes. TIME Magazine and New York Times carry her op-eds. Her visual poem "AI, Ain't I A Woman?" is part of international art exhibitions. Joy’s journey is depicted in the feature-length documentary Coded Bias. She is the first Black researcher to grace the cover of Fast Company appearing in the 2020 “Most Creative People” issue. Joy holds graduate degrees from Oxford University and MIT; and a bachelor's from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Cathy O’Neil earned a Ph.D. in math from Harvard, was a postdoc at the M.I.T. math department, and a professor at Barnard College where she published a number of research papers in arithmetic algebraic geometry. O’Neill has worked in the private sector in finance and as a data-scientist for a New York start-up. She wrote Doing Data Science in 2013 and launched the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia in 2014. She is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View and wrote the book, Weapons of Math Destruction: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. She recently founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company.

Timnit Gebru a computer scientist studying data mining and algorithmic bias, is an advocate for diversity in the tech industry. She helped co-found Black in AI, a group encouraging people of color to pursue careers in artificial intelligence. With a passion for analyzing the societal effects of A.I., Gebru was co-lead of Google's Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, before being forced out on Dec. 2, 2020--in part, due to her groundbreaking work assessing risks and bias in technology. She co-authored a paper that showed facial recognition programs were less accurate identifying women and people of color. In 2019 Gebru, Buolamwini, and a third researcher shared VentureBeat’s AI Innovations Award—AI for Good—for their analysis of the ethical implications of algorithmic bias in facial recognition.

Tranae’ Moran is a Brooklyn born and raised multimedia artist, community organizer and outreach specialist. In her organizing role in Ocean Hill, Brownsville she has been on the frontlines speaking out against the use of facial recognition technology in her community. The pressure applied from her neighbors and team of lawyers influenced the drafting of federal, state, and senate bills around the topic of biometric collecting systems in residential spaces. Tranae places emphasis on creating space and stimulation for creative thought and productive leisure through her resin goods line HeyTranae and brings that same mission to her neighbors through her newly-founded community organization the OceanHill-Brownsville Alliance. Communal voice is a driving force in all that is produced at her Brooklyn studio where she invites people in as well as takes her skills to the street using color theory and fluid art to host workshops and information sessions.

Ruha Bemjamin is a professor in the Department of African American studies at Princeton University where she studies the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine. She is also the founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab, and a faculty associate in the Center for Information Technology Policy, Program on History of Science, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Program on Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Department of Sociology. Ruha Benjamin serves on the executive committees of the Program in Global Health and Health Policy and Center for Digital Humanities.

**** Registration for this conversation is through Eventbrite. All interested attendees will receive a link to the live-stream on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded. ****

To follow the work of AJL, and join their fight for Algorithmic Justice, please sign up for their newsletter at: bit.ly/ajlnewsletter-signup

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About Her Dream Deferred

Her Dream Deferred: A Week on the Status of Black Women is a week-long series of conversations and virtual events focused on elevating the crisis facing Black women and girls in our country. Black women, girls, and femmes have continually been on the front lines of progressive social movements, yet the challenges they face at the intersections of race and gender have consistently been relegated to the margins of dominant racial and gender justice discourses. Since its inception, the annual Her Dream Deferred week has countered that marginalization by amplifying the voices and narratives of Black women and girls and providing the tools to dismantle the structural barriers that plague them in their homes, schools, and communities.

To learn more, please visit: www.aapf.org/hdd

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Please join AAPF for other events during #HerDreamDeferred 2021:

Monday, March 29th: When Misogynoir is a Pre-existing Condition

Tuesday, March 30th: Engendering the Politics of Black Athletes

Wednesday, March 31st: Mini Film Festival (Day 1): Coded Bias

Thursday, April 1st: Mini Film Festival (Day 2): A Love Song for Latasha

Friday, April 2nd: Mini Film Festival (Day 3): Still I Rise

Tuesday, April 6th: A Space for Ritual Healing