Kashmir Hill, “Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm,” New York Times, June 24, 2020
How AI Reinforces Bias in the Criminal Justice System
Joy Buolamwini,,Compassion through Computation: Fighting Algorithmic Bias
Ruha Benjamin, Technology and Race, Factually Podcast
Optional–(Better Off Ted segment referenced in podcast)
What went wrong that Robert Julian-Borchak Williams was arrested? This was a socio-technical system, what components of this system allowed for this injustice? Is there a way to make a just PredPol system or will it always be unjust? In what ways do America’s historical legacies of racism feed into these stories? In some ways we think of digital technology, with its 1s and 0s as being totally objective. Is this really so? Is it important that Joy Buolamwini puts her story in historical terms? In what ways can the Coded Gaze be fought? Do you see some themes we have talked about in class in Ruha Benjamin’s talk? What is Jim Code? Benjamin says “Innovation goes hand in hand with inequity.” She also claims that today in the guise of neutrality we are perpetuating racial inequality. Do you agree? Is the problem technology or our society? What does that mean for you as a budding engineer?