Bias in A.I. and the Risks of Continued Development, with Dr. Joy Buolamwini
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Notes from America, host Kai Wright talks with Dr. Joy Buolamwini, a computer scientist who uses art and research to illuminate the social implications of artificial intelligence. The self-described “poet of code” warns that A.I. could write the biases of today’s world into algorithms and even regress the progress of U.S. civil rights in everything from medicine to loan applications and police surveillance. Kai and Dr. Buolamwini take calls about listener fears around A.I. and address which concerns we should focus on. Plus, she shares her latest poem on the implications of A.I. in war as the crisis in the Middle East continues.
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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What do you think of when you hear the term artificial intelligence? |
| 0:05.6 | Well, that's a big question. |
| 0:07.4 | Not natural. |
| 0:08.4 | Computer advancement? |
| 0:09.9 | I was going to take over the world. |
| 0:12.2 | Something that can be used for good and bad |
| 0:15.0 | depending on how you use it. |
| 0:16.0 | Like online, you have artists that are upset |
| 0:19.0 | that people are making songs in their voice and in their name. |
| 0:23.9 | There was one show that I didn't watch |
| 0:25.8 | because the intro was done by AI. |
| 0:29.3 | So, Chatchi-PT. |
| 0:31.0 | I know lots of people use it. |
| 0:32.4 | I honestly don't use it, don't trust it. I don't feel like I can get that much efficiency out of it. |
| 0:37.6 | I appreciate all that it gives to us on a daily basis, but I'm kind of afraid of potential possibilities. |
| 0:45.0 | I'm not really sure the outcome, but I guess it'll be an adventure getting |
| 0:49.8 | there, huh? Huh? It's Notes from America. I'mai Wright. Welcome to the show. And as far as I know at least, |
| 1:17.0 | nothing that will happen over the next hour has been generated by artificial |
| 1:21.2 | intelligence. I promise, I think. So artificial intelligence, |
| 1:26.6 | until quite recently it seemed like the phrase could be used as a sort of inkblot test, whether it made you feel excited or terrified or Blasey, |
| 1:36.4 | probably said something about your relationship to the digital age more broadly. |
| 1:41.1 | I will out myself as among the terrified. I'm skeptical of tech companies in the first place and I grew up watching the terminators so I feel like I know how this movie unfolds. Anyway, like I said, until quite recently, this felt like just a fun parlor game, throw out artificial |
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