With the rapid and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence in everyday tools online, it's important to step back to understand all perspectives of its use cases and societal impact.
For 2024, the SXSW Conference introduced the Artificial Intelligence track for the first time among the 24 total themes for the year. Experts, enthusiasts, and creatives gathered in Austin this March to discuss the current state of artificial intelligence as well as future possibilities and implications.
Author of the national bestseller Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), Dr. Joy Buolamwini is dedicated to a future of more equitable and accountable use of AI.
The Algorithmic Justice League has four core principles:
- Affirmative Consent
- Meaningful Transparency
- Continuous Oversight and Accountability
- Actionable Critique
The AJL has worked to uncover biases and flaws across different industries using different predictive technologies, leading to unjust racial discrimination. Dr. Buolamwini shared real life examples of how technology like facial recognition can negatively affect peoples lives based on a number of discriminatory factors. One example included a woman, 8-months pregnant, who was falsely arrested after a facial recognition linked her to a crime she didn't commit.
"Anybody who has a photo posted on social media is likely in a database collected by Clearview AI, which has scraped over 30 billion photos online. And now with generative AI systems, it's not just the risk of being misidentified or matched with someone else - your own face, your own likeness - can be used in a deepfake." - Dr. Joy Buolamwini
Dr. Buolamwini has advised top companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and even President Biden, on AI policies and the dangers that deepfakes and misinformation. With the rapid adoption of these technologies and little to no regulation, Dr. Buolamwini is advocating for more control.
"I do think we have to be more specific about how to we reduce harm… Who benefits from the system and who shoulders the burdens and how do reduce those kinds of gaps?" - Dr. Joy Buolamwini
You can watch Dr. Joy Buolamwini's full Keynote session below. Browse through the Artificial Intelligence track and listen to full sessions from the 2024 SXSW Conference to hear from more experts in this growing field of technology.
