Nkonde is a renowned media commentator and advocate for ethical AI use, with her work featured in publications like Slate, the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. She has previously led advocacy for the Deep Fakes Accountability Act and has spoken out against the racial bias in AI-driven apps like Lensa. Nkonde's organization, AI for the People, advises the UN Business Technology Project and investment groups on ethical AI development. She is currently a policy fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute and is completing an MA in American Studies at Columbia University.
Key takeaways:
- The talk examines how AI-driven digital photography apps tend to make images more Eurocentric, impacting who gets to be seen and how.
- Mutale Nkonde, the speaker, discusses the efforts of companies like Google to combat this issue and the importance of developing images that represent all people.
- Nkonde led the advocacy for the Deep Fakes Accountability Act in 2019, which sought to mandate labeling on all digital media.
- She continues to advocate for the need for digital media to reflect the beauty of all people, particularly within the smartphone market.