Princeton University's Ruja Benjamin on Bias in Data and A.I.

Joining Cindi today is Ruha Benjamin, a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and the founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab. She has studied the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine for over 15 years and speaks widely on issues of innovation, equity, health, and justice in the U.S. and globally. Ruha is the author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code and People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier, and the editor of Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life.

In this episode, Ruha and Cindi discuss how flawed data can have disastrous, real-world consequences for women and people of color. Ruha also describes a multidisciplinary approach to recognizing and refurbishing the processes for gathering and governing data.

Key Takeaways:

• The least apparent bias is often the most dangerous. We can't prevent the consequences of bias or even take it seriously if we're not aware of it — or worse, choose to ignore its less obvious manifestations.
• Widen the lens and don't settle for 'happy talk.' Diversity is not the status quo for most organizations, therefore it should make us uncomfortable. If it’s not, it may be a sign that you’re stopping the conversation short.
• Focus on building the right team before you start building AI systems. Diversity needs to start from the groundwork that happens before the foundation is poured.
• "Big me up." Surround yourself with role models and people who build you up rather than tear you down — and be a support system for them as well. 

More About Ruha:

Ruha Benjamin is a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and the founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab. She has studied the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine for over fifteen years and speaks widely on issues of innovation, equity, health, and justice in the U.S. and globally.

Ruha's second book, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, examines the relationship between machine bias and systemic racism, analyzing specific cases of “discriminatory design,” and offering tools for a socially-conscious approach to tech development. She is also the editor of Captivating Technology.

Ruha also recommends the workbook, Advancing Racial Literacy in Tech.

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For full show notes and more, go to thedatachief.com.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.