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Property tech companies are helping landlords spy on residents, collect their data, and even evict them. Critics are calling it an invasion of privacy that could reinforce inequality.

"It clearly seems to be a racist way of saying: 'Look through your tenants who you don't want to live here and replace them with tenants who you do,'" Erin McElroy, a researcher at the AI Now Institute and cofounder of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, told Business Insider.

All Is Fair In Mortgage Lending And Fintech?

As Sarah Myers West, a postdoctoral researcher at New York University’s AI Now Institute explained to CBS News, “We turn to machine learning in the hopes that they'll be more objective, but really what they're doing is reflecting and amplifying historical patterns of discrimination and often in ways that are harder to see.”

Skewed Grading Algorithms Fuel Backlash Beyond the Classroom

Inioluwa Deborah Raji, a fellow at NYU’s AI Now Institute, which works on algorithmic fairness, says people reaching for a technical solution often embrace statistical formulas too tightly. Even well-supported pushback is perceived as highlighting a need for small fixes, rather than reconsidering whether the system is fit for the purpose.

Ambivalence in the (Private) Public Sphere: How Global Digital Activists Navigate Risk

Sarah Myers West presented on a qualitative research project examining how digital activists navigate risks posed to them in online environments.

Predictive policing algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled.

Police like the idea of tools that give them a heads-up and allow them to intervene early because they think it keeps crime rates down, says Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at the AI Now Institute.

AI gatekeepers are taking baby steps toward raising ethical standards

“The research community is beginning to acknowledge that we have some level of responsibility for how these systems are used,” says Inioluwa Raji, a tech fellow at NYU’s AI Now Institute.

Big Tech juggles ethical pledges on facial recognition with corporate interests

"It shows that organizing and socially informed research works," said Meredith Whittaker, co-founder of the AI Now Institute, which researches the social implications of artificial intelligence. "But do I think the companies have really had a change of heart and will work to dismantle racist oppressive systems? No."

NYC School of Data 2020

BetaNYC hosts NYC School of Data 2020 at CUNY School of Law in Queens. This event, held on International Open Data Day 2020, concludes the fourth annual NYC Open Data Week. NYC School of data is a community driven conference with a focus on open data, civic technology, and service design. Three of the many tracks will be webcast live via a partnership with the Internet Society New York Chapter.

Joy Lisi Rankin at the United Nations Women’s “Counted and Visible” Conference

Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin, Research Lead at AI Now Institute, recently spoke about bias, algorithmic technologies and surveillance at the UN's "Counted and Visible" Conference.

2019 Symposium

How Companies Should Answer The Call For Responsible AI

A recent report from the AI Now Institute revealed that 80% of AI professors, 85% of AI research staff at Facebook, and 90% of AI employees at Google are male.

Catholic leaders call for ethical guidelines around AI

Tech companies need binding, detailed policies that hold them accountable in addressing the many ethical concerns surrounding AI, says Meredith Whittaker, co-founder of the AI Now Institute at New York University.

AI Now Thursdays: Ryan Moritz: Important Bird Opera

Important Bird Opera (music, photographs, and film by Ryan Moritz with a libretto by Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb) is an experimental opera in three acts about birds, migration, climate crisis, and rewilding. The piece began as a research project and experiment in nature photography, sound documentary, and the twentieth-century tone poem. Built on an archive of music, migration photographs, video footage, and recorded birdsong from across the hemisphere, Important Bird Opera evolved into a more argumentative and political piece, one that follows climate writer Alan Weisman’s prompt to imagine—perhaps even dream—of a world without us. The title of the piece, a nod to international non-profit alliance BirdLife International’s designation of “Important Bird Areas,” also registers the artist’s ongoing activist and volunteer work with specific bird conservation efforts. The libretto, “Unflocked Heart,” set in the opera alongside images and footage of birds in stunning motion and sometimes humorous repose, tells the story of a diverse avian community riven by doubt and hesitation and brought together unexpectedly in hope. Important Bird Opera explores avian population decline; climatological and built-environment challenges to traditional migratory patterns; and the possibility of reforestation and ecological remedy undertaken by non-human consciousnesses.

Here’s What Happens When an Algorithm Determines Your Work Schedule

“Worse yet, corporate secrecy is a structural characteristic of the AI industry in general that undermines our ability to assess the full extent of how the technology is being used and hinders redress, oversight, and regulation.”

We’re hiring a Critical Designer

The Critical Designer will scope, iterate, and develop meaningful visualizations based on AI Now’s Data Genesis research.

The Great Google Revolt

The discovery that their employer was working hand in hand with the Defense Department to bolster drone warfare “was a watershed moment,” said Meredith Whittaker, an A.I. researcher based in New York who led Google’s Open Research Group.

Imagining a post GDPR order: Panel at CPDP 2020

Amba Kak presented on a panel on the future of data protection law and algorithmic accountability at CPDP 2020

Bridging The Gender Gap In AI

The gap appears even more stark at the “FANG” companies—according to the AI Now Institute just 15% of AI research staff at Facebook and 10% at Google are women.