'Coded Bias' filmmaker Shalini Kantayya and researcher Meredith Broussard dissect the inequities perpetuated and created by emergent technologies.

Every day, human beings use technology that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. But while the biometric computation and artificial intelligence that drive much of this tech have the sheen of something new, a growing chorus of researchers argues that they also contain something very old: the racism, sexism and other discrimination that have long been part of our history. 

The machines we have made don't just suffer from the ills of our society, they argue, but also  threaten to perpetuate them. And, as this technology becomes more ubiquitous and invasive, it may become a serious threat to our civil rights.  

For this week's episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we are speaking with Kantayya, whose film Coded Bias serves as a warning against the widespread, unregulated adoption of these technologies. Joining her is Broussard, one of the expert voices from the film and the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World.

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Credits

Host: Mark Baumgarten

Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph