MAMP Podcast Ep#2: Racist Technology

On episode #2 of the My American Meltingpot podcast, I am joined by journalist and author, Meredith Broussard, for a fascinating discussion on racist technology. Yes, apparently technology can be racist. 

During our conversation, Meredith breaks down how anything from a soap dispenser to a self-driving car can contain racist technology and therefore negatively impact the lives of people of color. And that negative impact could mean death!

Don’t Panic, Protest

But Meredith doesn’t want anyone to panic or throw away their mobile phones. Quite the contrary, she wants people to get educated about what technology can do and can’t do and not assume technology is the answer to all things. That’s why she wrote her new book, Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (MIT Press).

My greatest takeaway from my conversation with Meredith was that technology is created by humans and if the humans creating the technology are racist or biased (which, all humans are in some way), then their technology is going to biased or racist too. But that doesn’t mean we just have to live with racist technology and wait for a self-driving car to run over us while we’re crossing the street. We can take advantage of resources like Meredith’s book and  educate ourselves about technology’s limitations and the bias baked into many forms of our favorite electronics and ubiquitous algorithms. We can also fight against technological progress if it is harmful and/or racist. We can ask questions, we can protest, we can change laws, we can use our voices.

Meredith also emphasized the need to diversify our tech work force so the bias that leaks into our technology that’s too often created by white males, can be checked. But there’s so much more we talked about, please check out this episode for a truly enlightening discussion. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Resources from the Show

Here are some useful links mentioned in the podcast:

Meredith Broussard’s website.

Meredith’s fascinating book, Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

An essay by John McWhorter arguing that technology can’t be racist.

Laura Gomez’s inclusive AI company Atipica 

Safiya Noble’s new book, Alogrithms of Oppression

The racist soap dispenser video. It’s funny, but not funny. 

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a comment below or on the iTunes app, or wherever you listen to the show. You also might want to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss episode #3 when we’re going to be dissecting the K-Pop phenomenon.