Oxford Union Debate on A.I. as an Existential Threat
On October 19, 2023, our Founder & CEO debated Max Tegmark & Jaan Taalin of the Future of Humanity Institute and authors of the Open Letter to Pause AI on motion: the House believes AI is an Existential Threat.
Yeshimabeit argued what we know to be true: that the biggest existential threat is not a rogue AI but the current concentration of artificial intelligence technologies into the hands of a few. She brilliantly emphasized the urgency of putting the power of AI into the hands of those who need it the most.
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Conference Welcome: Rafael Reif, President of MIT (5 min) Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Yeshimabeit Milner, D4BL Executive Director (20 min) Keynote Address: Ruha Benjamin (45 min)
Opening Panel: Data for Black Lives
Opening Panel: Data for Black Lives
Since the advent of computing, big data and algorithms have penetrated virtually every aspect of our social and economic lives. New data systems have tremendous potential to empower communities of color. Tools like statistical modeling, data visualization, and crowd-sourcing, in the right hands, ...
Automating (In)justice: Policing and Sentencing in the Algorithm Age
Automating (In)justice: Policing and Sentencing in the Algorithm Age
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world, and Black communities are disproportionately impacted by this mass incarceration. The disparities are staggering: although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers are white, three quarters of those imprisoned for these crimes...
Algorithmic Justice: Race, Bias, and Big Data
Algorithmic Justice: Race, Bias, and Big Data
Speakers will discuss algorithms, race, and justice–the problems and the possibilities.
D4BL I
D4BL I
On November 17-19 2017 we brought together community members, organizers, academics, technologists, educators, artists, policy makers, and public servants for the inaugural Data for Black Lives conference at the MIT Media Lab.
What is Data Capitalism?
What is Data Capitalism?
Data for Black Lives and Demos released a groundbreaking new report addressing data capitalism and offering solutions that build power for Black and brown communities. In the age of "big data" and surveillance, we need to be concerned about more than just personal privacy. Take a look at how d...
Data Intersections 2020 | The University of Miami Institute for Data Science & Computing
Data Intersections 2020 | The University of Miami Institute for Data Science & Computing
Big Data is more than a collection of technologies, more than a revolution in measurement and prediction. It has become a philosophy, an ideological regime, one that determines how decisions are made and who makes them. It has given legitimacy to a new form of social and political control, one th...
What Even IS an Algorithm? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 1, Season 1
What Even IS an Algorithm? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 1, Season 1
What even is an algorithm? Algorithms seem to have this vice grip on our lives. However, most of us don't even know exactly what an algorithm is or does. Here at Data for Black Lives, we aim to fight algorithmic injustice, and in order to do that, we need to fully understand what we're up against...
What is Data for Black Lives?
What is Data for Black Lives?
Data for Black Lives is a movement of activists, organizers, and mathematicians committed to the mission of using data science to create concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people. Since the advent of computing, big data and algorithms have penetrated virtually every aspect of ou...
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Yeshimabeit Milner, D4BL Executive Director (10 min) Keynote Address: Meredith Broussard (45 min) Poetry: Joy Buolamwini (5 min)
We are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For: Organizing for Algorithmic Accountability
We are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For: Organizing for Algorithmic Accountability
As algorithms and automated decisions continue to impact every aspect of our lives, in Black communities nationwide these decision-making systems animate already existing structures of oppression and inequality. From risk assessments to school enrollment algorithms to child predictive analytics a...
D4BL III
D4BL III
November 18-20, 2024 at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami.
AI Now Institute: Confronting Black Boxes: A Shadow Report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force
AI Now Institute: Confronting Black Boxes: A Shadow Report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force
In 2017, New York City became the first US jurisdiction to create a task force to come up with recommendations for government use of Automated decision systems (ADS). This report is a community powered shadow report that provides a comprehensive record of what happened during the Task Force’s rev...
Advancing Community Engaged Approaches to Identifying Structural Drivers of Racial Bias in Health Diagnostic Algorithms
Advancing Community Engaged Approaches to Identifying Structural Drivers of Racial Bias in Health Diagnostic Algorithms
Following an initial system dynamics workshop at the Data for Black Lives II conference hosted at MIT in January of 2019, a group of conference participants interested in building capabilities to use system dynamics to understand complex societal issues convened monthly to explore issues related to racial bias in AI and implications for health disparities through qualitative and simulation modeling.
No Humans Involved
No Humans Involved
The battle for the soul of AI is not about preventing tech from becoming human but about preventing AI from being used to define who is human and who is not.
Consentful Tech Curriculum
Consentful Tech Curriculum
In 2021 Data for Black Lives joined forces with the Consentful Tech Project to release a curriculum guides practitioners through a process to develop technology in truly inclusive but also consentful ways, pushing back against the weaponization of data. We have designed this curriculum to be ...
Congressional Briefing on AI and Civil Rights
Congressional Briefing on AI and Civil Rights
Briefing on Artificial Intelligence and Civil Rights With Senator Cory Booker and Data for Black Lives & Leading Advocates
Oxford Union Debate: AI is an 'Existential Threat'
Oxford Union Debate: AI is an 'Existential Threat'
On October 19, 2023, our Founder & CEO debated Max Tegmark & Jaan Taalin of the Future of Humanity Institute and the authors of the Open Letter to Pause AI. The video of her speech will be live on the Oxford Union YouTube channel soon. We will be sharing it on this page once it is live.
Apartheid Is an Algorithm
Apartheid Is an Algorithm
On October 14, 2023, Founder & CEO Yeshimabeit Milner delivered the keynote speech Apartheid Is an Algorithm at the Milky Way Tech Summit held at Northwestern Mutual Financial in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Data Activism + Decompress
Data Activism + Decompress
This keynote was delivered by our founder and CEO, Yeshimabeit Milner on Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center on February 23, 2024 at 5 PM. The event was hosted in partnership with the Barnard Department of Computer Science and Barnard Library. London-...
Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium
Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium
On Friday, March 22, Yeshimabeit Milner will speak at the Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium. Her remarks will expand upon the Data for Black Lives #NoMoreDataWeapons campaign, calling attention to harmful applications of AI in the criminal justice system. Please join us in person or via...
Yeshimabeit Milner | Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center
Yeshimabeit Milner | Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center
This keynote was delivered by our founder and CEO, Yeshimabeit Milner on Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center on February 23, 2024 at 5 PM. The event was hosted in partnership with the Barnard Department of Computer Science and Barnard Library. London-...