On April 7, 2021, CAIDP at the Michael Dukakis Institute and the AI World Society will host a screening of the widely acclaimed film Coded Bias. CAIDP Senior Research Director Merve Hickok, founder of the AIEthicist.org, will lead a conversation with Director Shalini Kantayya prior to the screening.
About the Film
“In an increasingly data-driven, automated world, the question of how to protect individuals’ civil liberties in the face of artificial intelligence looms larger by the day. Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within facial recognition algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life.
“While conducting research on facial recognition technology at the M.I.T. Media Lab, Buolamwini, a “poet of code,” made the startling discovery that the algorithm could not detect dark-skinned faces or women with accuracy. This led to the harrowing realization that the very machine-learning algorithms intended to avoid prejudice are only as unbiased as the humans and historical data programming them.
“Coded Bias documents the dramatic journey that follows, from discovery to exposure to activism, as Buolamwini goes public with her findings and undertakes an effort to create a movement toward accountability and transparency, including testifying before Congress to push for the first-ever legislation governing facial recognition in the United States.”
About Buolamwini
Joy Adowaa Buolamwini is a Ghanaian-American computer scientist and digital activist based at the MIT Media Lab. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization that looks to challenge bias in decision making software. She has testified before Congress about the dangers of facial recognition and she has called for a complete ban of police use of face surveillance. She has championed the need for algorithmic justice at the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.
Fortune Magazine described her as “the conscience of the A.I. Revolution.” In 2020, the AI World Society recognized Buolamwini as one of the leaders in History of AI 2020
Coded Bias premieres on PBS on March 22, 2021.
