Coded Bias

In CODED BIAS, director Shalini Kantayya interviews leading experts in technology (computer scientists, data scientists, cybersecurity and marketing experts) to explore how technology -- specifically AI, machine learning, and algorithms -- is susceptible to socioeconomic, gender-based, and racial bias. The standout among the interviewees is MIT-based computer scientist and digital activist Joy Buolamwini, who founded the Algorithmic Justice League. She discusses how digital bias impacts all sorts of technology, from the way facial recognition software can fail to accurately detect darker-skinned faces (or incorrectly match faces to criminal databases) to the manner in which some digital scanners reject job, loan, credit card applicants, and so forth. Other data scientists and experts weigh in on how social media usage and copious saved user data create such highly targeted ads that the poor are subject to predatory practices while the wealthy are bombarded with the latest luxury items.