Our podcast this week is a repost of Tech for Good Live Black Lives Matter Special – Canaries In The Coal Mine with Ian Forrester.
It’s a really interesting conversation about the myriad of ways that technology, including AI, facial recognition and algorithms fail people of colour and actually produce a number of microaggressions against them too.
In their discussion, Ade Adewunmi (Data strategist, FastForwardLabs), David Eastman (Software Developer), Ethar Alali (MD, Axelisys), Vimla Appadoo (Co-Founder, Honey Badger) and host, Ian Forrester discuss the ways in which the government has accepted technology that doesn’t work as well for ethnic minorities as well as the ways a lack of regulation and enforcement can quickly seed technologies that create and double down on systemic bias.
One of the key takeaways from this podcast is the way that empathy – or lack of – can influence the way that technology is developed. Who is the room and the power they are given to speak and make changes matters. Development processes and companies shouldn’t wait for things to go wrong before retroactively correcting their mistakes; they should be seeking the diversity required to ensure that their products are accessible and usable for all. In other words, the user should never have to call out a developer.
You might also find the link with these related news stories a good read too. Home Office drops ‘racist’ algorithm from visa decisions and the A Level Algorithm turn around
We hope you enjoy this podcast and let us know what you think!
Podcast and transcript
Manchester Futurists 