PODCAST: AI vs. Bias—Dr. Avriel Epps

Dr. Avriel Epps studies the impact of artificial intelligence on identity, culture, and mental health. An incoming professor at Rutgers University, she has a PhD in Human Development and Education from Harvard. She also wants to help families understand how the systems work through the recent publication of A Kids Book About AI Bias.

Prior to her academic career, Avriel Epps was a child actor, a model, a genre-bending musician—and a Black woman who often felt asked to fit into roles she didn’t choose.

Our conversation is about AI, but it’s also about power. It’s about beauty standards. It’s about why some things rise to the top and others never surface. It’s about what we can do—whether as creatives, parents or users—to push back against the grain.

What we talk about in this episode…

* The concept of AI bias and how a new language of media literacy is taking shape

* Creativity concerns for artists who can mitigate biased elements in their work

* Empowerment and advocacy with a strategy to ensure fairer development of AI

Links to resources we discussed…

*  Dr. Avriel Epps [personal website]

* Unmasking AI [Dr. Joy Buolamwini]

* Algorithms of Oppression [Safiya Umoja Noble]

*  More Than a Glitch [Meredith Brossard]

*   Race After Technology [Ruha Benjamin]

*  Data Feminism [Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein]

*  Weapons of Math Destruction [Cathy O'Neil]

*   Timnit Gebru: The Computer Scientist Fighting for a Fairer World

*  The Data Union [Nicholas Vincent]  

* A Kids Book About AI Bias [Dr. Avriel Epps]

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