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PBS Independent Lens: Coded Bias
It was on tonight.
Coded Bias exposes prejudices and threats to civil libery in facial recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence.
The article contains links. You can view the full film, or you can view the trailer.
CODED BIAS
BY SHALINI KANTAYYA | IN RACE & ETHNICITY
Premiered March 22, 2021
About the Film
In an increasingly data-driven, automated world, the question of how to protect individuals’ civil liberties in the face of artificial intelligence looms larger by the day. Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life.
While conducting research on facial recognition technologies at the M.I.T. Media Lab, Buolamwini, a "poet of code," made the startling discovery that some algorithms could not detect dark-skinned faces or classify women with accuracy. This led to the harrowing realization that the very machine-learning algorithms intended to avoid prejudice are only as unbiased as the humans and historical data programming them.
Coded Bias documents the dramatic journey that follows, from discovery to exposure to activism, as Buolamwini goes public with her findings and undertakes an effort to create a movement toward accountability and transparency, including testifying before Congress to push for the first-ever legislation governing facial recognition in the United States and starting the Algorithmic Justice League. The film also includes data journalist Meredith Broussard; Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, who is monitoring the trial use of facial recognition technology by U.K. police; Virginia Eubanks, author of Automating Inequality; Ravi Naik, human rights lawyer and media commentator; Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, author and expert on algorithmic discrimination and technology bias; and Zeynep Tufekci, author of Twitter and Teargas.
The Filmmaker
In addition to Coded Bias, Shalini Kantayya directed the season finale episode for the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, a series profiling trailblazing scientists transforming the future, Executive Produced by Ron Howard, and broadcast globally in June 2017. Her debut feature film Catching the Sun, about the race for a clean energy future, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary.
{snip}
AWARDS
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Grand Jury Prize (Nominee)
CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARD
Best Science Documentary (Nominee)
HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking
CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Best International Documentary
{snip}
BY SHALINI KANTAYYA | IN RACE & ETHNICITY
Premiered March 22, 2021
About the Film
In an increasingly data-driven, automated world, the question of how to protect individuals’ civil liberties in the face of artificial intelligence looms larger by the day. Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life.
While conducting research on facial recognition technologies at the M.I.T. Media Lab, Buolamwini, a "poet of code," made the startling discovery that some algorithms could not detect dark-skinned faces or classify women with accuracy. This led to the harrowing realization that the very machine-learning algorithms intended to avoid prejudice are only as unbiased as the humans and historical data programming them.
Coded Bias documents the dramatic journey that follows, from discovery to exposure to activism, as Buolamwini goes public with her findings and undertakes an effort to create a movement toward accountability and transparency, including testifying before Congress to push for the first-ever legislation governing facial recognition in the United States and starting the Algorithmic Justice League. The film also includes data journalist Meredith Broussard; Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, who is monitoring the trial use of facial recognition technology by U.K. police; Virginia Eubanks, author of Automating Inequality; Ravi Naik, human rights lawyer and media commentator; Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, author and expert on algorithmic discrimination and technology bias; and Zeynep Tufekci, author of Twitter and Teargas.
The Filmmaker
In addition to Coded Bias, Shalini Kantayya directed the season finale episode for the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, a series profiling trailblazing scientists transforming the future, Executive Produced by Ron Howard, and broadcast globally in June 2017. Her debut feature film Catching the Sun, about the race for a clean energy future, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary.
{snip}
AWARDS
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Grand Jury Prize (Nominee)
CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARD
Best Science Documentary (Nominee)
HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking
CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Best International Documentary
{snip}
Coded Bias | Trailer
52,493 views•Jul 14, 2020
MIFF
26.3K subscribers
Get tickets at http://2020.miff.com.au/film/coded-bias
Director: Shalini Kantayya
Language: English
What does it mean when the technology that surrounds our lives is built on systemic racial and gender-based prejudices? This is the truth about the invisible forces that decide everyday human potential.