Can computers discriminate? Spoiler Alert: Yes – #PublicInterestTech
Accessibility Statement
- All videos produced by the Ford Foundation since 2020 include captions and downloadable transcripts. For videos where visuals require additional understanding, we offer audio-described versions.
- We are continuing to make videos produced prior to 2020 accessible.
- Videos from third-party sources (those not produced by the Ford Foundation) may not have captions, accessible transcripts, or audio descriptions.
- To improve accessibility beyond our site, we’ve created a free video accessibility WordPress plug-in.
The information age has ushered in a wave of automated decision making through tools that aim to eliminate bias. When black-box algorithms — vague systems making complex and relative decisions — are fed data, decisions are made almost entirely without human contact. Have we taken into consideration what the algorithms have been taught? And, that machine learned bias exists?
“If we don’t bring technologists into the public interest fold, I think we’re really looking at a very dangerous world in which technology does exacerbate and exponentially increase inequalities in our society.” — Kade Crockford, Director of the Tech for Liberty Program at ACLUM
Kade is part of a larger community that wants to see technology serve the greater welfare of society. We call this #PublicInterestTech!