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Your Search Algorithm Is Political
October 21, 2020 at 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Artificial intelligence is a human rights issue in the 21st century. Data scientists and engineers work outside the context of the civil and human rights abuses that algorithms foster. STEM education provides little engagement with issues giving future developers tools or stake in these issues. In this talk, Safiya Noble, Assistant Professor in the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, will provide evidence from her book, Algorithms of Oppression about Google Search, the way it misrepresents people and communities, and the harm that comes from these algorithmic practices – practices designed and implemented by humans. She underscores the role of search engines and other decision making systems of its ilk in contributing to oppression and racist marginalization. With artificial intelligence must come accountability.
Part of the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research Edna Saffy Lecture Series and the Infotech Speaker Series
Speaker
Safiya Noble is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Department of Information Studies where she serves as the  Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry. She is the author of a best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press), which has been widely-reviewed in journals and periodicals including the Los Angeles Review of Books, and featured in the New York Public Library 2018 Best Books for Adults (non-fiction). She is regularly quoted for her expertise on issues of algorithmic discrimination and technology bias by national and international press including The Guardian, the BBC, CNN International, USA Today, Wired, Time, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The New York Times, and Virginia Public Radio, and a host of local news and podcasts, including Science Friction, and Science Friday to name a few. Safiya holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in sociology from Fresno State University.
Student Moderator
The moderator for the event is DeKita Moon, who is currently pursing a Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from UF’s Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on student engagement and learning through the development of a math word problem generator which uses natural language processing to include students’ interests.