Activists Of Tech — The responsible tech podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

After Trump was elected and tech oligarchs like Elon Musk, an unelected person, started to get power in decision making at the White House, the topic of technofascism got very popular. But this political trend of leveraging technology to empower fascist ideologies is nothing new. A lot has been written about technofascism in the 21st century, but I wanted to go back to the basics: what is fascism before technology? How do fascist movements use technology to take power and what kind of power dynamic is created? How can we resist the rise of technofascism?

To answer these questions, I welcomed Dr Emile Dirks. Emile is a Senior Research Associate at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, where he explores Chinese politics and digital authoritarianism.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

Biometrics – our fingerprints, faces, irises, for instance – are increasingly used to verify identity. But what happens when this data collection is applied to vulnerable populations, like refugees and asylum seekers, in ways that can remove agency rather than offer them protection? In the humanitarian space, organizations justify biometric data collection in a way to increase efficiency, yet stories have shown that such mechanisms can be weaponized: data handed over to oppressive governments, misidentifications leading to life-altering mistakes, and accountability often falling on the very people humanitarian programs claim to help. Beyond survival depending on data-driven systems, racial capitalism also plays a critical role by reinforcing the same global inequalities that force people to migrate in the first place. Who benefits from implementing biometric data collection in a humanitarian context, and who bears the consequences when it fails?

To answer these questions and more, I had the pleasure to talk with Zara Rahman, author of “Machine Readable Me: The Hidden Ways That Technology Shapes Our Identities”, Strategic Advisor at the SUPERRR Lab and Visiting Research collaborator at the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University. Zara is a researcher, writer, public speaker and non-profit executive, whose interests lie at the intersection of technology, justice and community. For over a decade, her work has focused on supporting the responsible use of data and technology in advocacy and social justice, working with activists from around the world to support context-driven and thoughtful uses of tech and data.

More often than not, on Activists of Tech, we talk about the problems caused by technology and the solutions or alternatives to these issues. And I kind of feel guilty because I don’t want to convey the idea that AI is inherently bad. Though the mainstream culture surrounding AI certainly is, we have agency over what we create, over the AI systems we design and on how they impact others. Today’s guest is a great example and she is nothing short of inspiring: Dr Kadian Davis-Owusu has turned her passion for technology and learning into purpose, advocating for the power of online education and the ethical use of AI in learning. Kadian is the co-founder of TeachSomebody and a university lecturer at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

This episode is about tackling educational inequalities with technology, and we dived into Kadian’s work as an educator and technologist at TeachSomebody, a platform on a mission to bridge educational divides by making education accessible and providing equal opportunities to underserved communities. We talked about how online courses can address global inequalities, the potential of AI to revolutionize learning access, and what it takes to tackle concerns about privacy and AI ethics, and much more.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

This episode was initially scheduled to be released in mid-December, but it was actually recorded last week, specifically one day after the American elections took place and after Trump was re-elected. B and I briefly talked about the elections in this episode, but I decided to edit and release earlier because B radically tries to move us forward and their dedication and energy made me feel so much better and hopefully this episode will make you feel better as well.

In this episode, B Cavello, Director of emerging technologies at the @ Aspen Institute and I talked about responsible tech, what it looks like, what limits the design and development of ethical artificial intelligence, but also about the importance of media and tech literacy, and bringing diverse voices to the tech conversation.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

Culture, the arts, or what makes humans.. Humans. Yet it is not accessible to just everyone. When you think about it, how do you make a play accessible to visually or hearing impaired people? How can we use technology to translate art into senses they were not designed for in the first place? How does tech and art relate to disability justice?

More often than not, people with disabilities are not included in the design process of artistic spaces that are not accessible and don’t accommodate bodies differing from the norm.

In this episode, Colin Clark, inclusive designer and creative technologist and co-Founder of Lichen Community Systems Worker Cooperative Canada and Data Communities for Inclusion Solution Network at CIFAR joined me to talk about making the art world accessible with technology, the power of community led design, and move toward another yet related topic: the use of chat gpt by artists and the labor exploitation of the creative sector, and more!

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

We produce a LOT of data, tweet for any reason, post a gazillion pictures online, and that somehow will give an idea to future generations about who we are and where we are at culturally speaking. Of course, and thankfully, not every digital content is archived, it has to have cultural or historical significance. But how do you determine that? Who should decide which stories get to be archived or unarchived? Are colonial dynamics taken into consideration when archiving contemporary records and what measures are being taken for archives to be inclusive? To answer these questions and more, I had the pleasure to welcome Valerie Love, Senior Digital Archivist at the Alexander Turnbull Library, which holds the archives and special collections for the National Library of New Zealand.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

Facing an injustice and requiring legal representation is a tedious, complex, and time-consuming process, on top of being expensive and not affordable by everyone who needs help. This hurdle greatly contributes to the prevalence of injustices, and today we are focusing on the case of a Nigerian non -profit, Citizens’ Gavel that is addressing this hurdle and leveraging AI to promote access to justice.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

Growing up in the Bay area with a future drawn for her, Nidhi Sinha did everything she was supposed to do: go to a private high school, pursue a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, and work at a Big Tech company in the Bay. Until she got into AI ethics and burst the bubble she had grown in. What happens when surveillance happens in your own backyard, and the Big Tech companies you were told to reach for growing up are responsible for the harm of communities locally and beyond borders?

Nidhi decided to get involved at CAIDP, at the Citizens Privacy Coalition, and recently to direct her first documentary on surveillance and privacy rights in the Bay area. In this episode, she talks about how Big Tech has impacted local Bay Area life, the growing wealth gap in the region, the extent of surveillance and most importantly what we can do to resist and fight back.

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Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

AI products and features are becoming ubiquitous. When the targets of AI systems are children in school, it should be common sense that the impacts of these technologies should be assessed before reaching the “market” and the privacy of kids subjected to them should be the number one priority of school boards. Of course, it’s not, and serious questions arise. How does the AI hype and the mass deployment of AI “solutions” impact education in the United States? What are the risks and benefits for the educational system? Who is in charge and who does it impact? To answer these questions and more, I am thrilled to have welcomed the most ✨outspoken✨ person I know (and I know quite a few), Shana V White, who works at the intersection of racial justice and tech as the Director of CS equity initiatives at the Kapor Center.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.

Sexism and oppression are tied to culture, which in turn impacts the tech industry, tech design and deployment. To talk about the relationship between the patriarchy, women in tech, and how to fight back, I talked with Mia Shah-Dand, founder of Women in AI ethics and creator of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. In this episode, Mia talks about her personal story and upbringing, what women have to put up with when they work in tech, gender based violence enabled by technologies, diversity in tech, and how to fight back to reclaim space.

Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.